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BOS 


OSTON   MUSEUM   COMPANY.rYLAll  4 


.il'MfrBar'     ■'       Til-    '■«%    I 


STAGE   AND   SCREEN 


BY 

MARION  HOWARD  BRAZIER 

AUTHOR  OF   "perpetrations" 


ILLUSTRATED 


M.  H.  BRAZIER,  PUBLISHER 

TRINITY     COURT 
BOSTON   ^  MASSACHUSETTS 


COPYRIGHT,    1920    BY 
MARION    H.     BRAZIER 


All  rights  reserved 


THE'PLIMP  TON  -PRESS 
NORWOGD-MASS-U-S-A 


.■?i  f 


SDeHicateti 

TO  THE 

SPOKEN  AND  SILENT  DRAMA 


9    if  Ai^  e  Jl 


"/  think  I  love  and  reverence  all  the  arts  equally,  only  putting  my 
otvn  just  above  the  others,  because  in  it  I  recognize  the  union  and 
culmination  oj  them  all.  To  me  it  seems  that  when  God  conceived 
the  world,  that  was  poetry;  be  Jormed  it  and  that  was  sculpture;  be 
colored  it  and  that  was  painting;  be  peopled  it  with  living  beings, 
and  that  was  grand  eternal  drama." 

Charlotte  Cushman 


PREFACE 

AT  first  it  may  seem  inconsistent  to  begin  my 
little  story  of  plays  and  players  by  turning 
the  hourglass  back  so  far.  I  have  endeavored 
to  deal  briefly  with  those  "salad  days"  and  to 
write  of  some  of  the  players  known  to  me  personally 
or  professionally,  from  the  standpoint  of  the  theatre 
goer  since  the  middle  sixties,  and  not  as  a  critic  in 
any  sense.  Volumes  have  been  written  by  abler 
pens,  and  wiH  be,  in  the  future.  These  are  merely 
wayside  jottings.  It  is  by  request  of  many,  whose 
friendship  is  dear,  that  I  undertake  to  put  into  some 
semblance  of  shape  my  recollections,  aided  by 
programs  preserved  these  long  years,  dating  from 
the  early  seventies.  Doubtless,  there  are  errors  of 
omission  —  possibly  of  commission.  Much  is  culled 
from  my  platform  talk,  "Players  of  Past  Genera- 
tions Now  Alive,'*  and  all  is  too  briefly  told.  As 
to  screen  plays,  it  is  quite  impossible  to  keep  pace 
with  them,  or  foresee  where  the  motion  picture  in- 
dustry will  lead.     Great  spectacles  are  under  way; 


PREFACE 

SO,  in  dealing  with  the  subject  one  feels  inclined  to 
say  "continued  in  our  next."  Many  of  the  oldtime 
pictures  in  the  stage  section  were  gifts  in  the  long 
ago.  In  the  preparation  of  this  book,  I  am  indebted 
to  players  and  producers  of  motion  pictures  for  their 
co-operation  in  trying  to  brighten  what  might, 
otherwise  be  dull  pages. 

The  Author 


n6:i 


CONTENTS 

THE  STAGE 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  The  Boston  Museum 1 1 

II.   Charlotte  Cushman 21 

III.  In  Loving  Memory 25 

IV.  William  Seymour 34 

V.   Some  Big  Players 38 

VI.   Mary  Anderson  and  Others 44 

VII.   Big  Moments 56 

VIII.    Veterans 60 

IX.   Stock  Companies 64 

X.  The  Singers 67 

XI.  The  Amateurs 72 

XII.    In  Lighter  Vein 75 

XIII.   A  Sum-up 78 

THE   PHOTOPLAY 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  The  Silent  Drama 83 

II.   Stock  Companies 90 

III.    Notable  Plays  and  Players 94 

'     IV.   Screen  Characters 105 

V.   Grandes  Dames  and  Others no 

VI.   Comedians 116 

VII.    Great  Picture  Plays 1 19 

VIII.   Why  Censorship 122 

IX.   Why  They  Go 127 

X.  Where  the  Camera  Goes 1 29 


L?: 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


THE  STAGE 


FACING 

Boston     Museum     Company 

(1862) Frontispiece 

Corinne 

Lotta 

Josie  Orton 

Miriam    O'Leary    and     Kate 

Ryan 

Lillian  Russell  at  21 

Fanny  Ward  at  17 

Charlotte  Cushman 

Adelaide  Neilson 

Annie  Clarke 

Kate  Reignolds-Winslow .  .  .  . 

Sarah  Bernhardt 

Ellen  Terry 

Ida  Vernon 

Clara  Morris 

May  Davenport-Seymour .... 

William  Seymour 

Rose  Coghlan 

Mary     Anderson     and     Mrs. 

Stirling 


PAGE  FACING     PAGE 

E.  H.  Sothern  and  Julia  Mar- 
lowe    46 

16      Julia  Arthur 49 

16      John  Craig 58 

16      Ada  Oilman 60 

Mrs.  Thomas  Whiffen 60 

18       Christine  Nilssen 62 

1 8       Rachel  Noah 62 

18       Maud  Granger 62 

24       Edgar  L.  Davenport 64 

24       Marie  Burress 64 

24      Sydney  Booth 64 

24       I  sabelle  Evesson 64 

28      Scene     from     "The     School- 
28  mistress"    at    Boston    Mu- 

28          seum,  October  12,  '91 66 

28       Mary  Garden 68 

34       Helen    E.    H.    Carter-Wright  70 

34      The  Late  Mrs.  Sol  Smith 70 

40       Bertha  Wesselhoeft  Swift ....  72 

Julian  Eltinge 74 

44 


THE  PHOTOPLAY 


FACING    PAGE 

Elsie  Ferguson  Facing  ba(/tt//e 

Alia  Nazimova 84 

Maxine  Elliott 86 

Jane  Cowl 86 

Mme.  Petrova 86 


Nance  O'Neil .  .  .  . 

Charles  Kent 

George  Fawcett.  . 
Frederick  Warde . 
Herbert  Standing. 


FACING    PAGE 

86 

88 

88 

88 

88 


Cq^ 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING  PAGE 

Alice  Brady 90 

Mary  Miles  Minter 90 

Constance  Binney 90 

Wanda  Hawley 90 

John  Barrymore 92 

Vernon  Steele 92 

Wyndham  Standing 92 

Thomas  Meighan 94 

Enid  Bennett 96 

Wallace  Reid 98 

Charles  Ray 1 00 

Marguerite  Clark 100 

Billie  Burke 100 

Theodore  Roberts 100 

Eugene  O'Brien 102 

Bert  Lytell 104 

May  Allison 104 

Viola  Dana 104 

Taylor  Holmes 104 

Lillian  Gish 106 


FACING   PAGE 

Mary  Pickford 106 

Alice  Joyce 106 

Mae  Marsh 106 

Hope  Hampton 108 

Anita  Stewart no 

Elsie  Janis 112 

Madge  Kennedy 112 

Elaine  Hammerstein 112 

Mabel  Normand 112 

Major  Robert  Warwick 114 

Norma  and    Constance    Tal- 

madge 116 

Doris  Kenyon 119 

J.     J.     Dowling     and     Betty 

Compson 119 

Rose  Tapley 120 

William  S.  Hart 120 

Lou  Tellegen 123 

Geraldine  Farrar 123 


CIO] 


STAGE  AND  SCREEN 

I 

THE  BOSTON  MUSEUM 

CHARLES  DICKENS  has  wisely  said  "Al- 
together too  many  people  look  at  every- 
thing, seeing  nothing."  '*I  find  myself  in 
a  world  in  which  there  is  so  much  to  see,  and  so 
short  a  time  to  see  it  in,  I  must  take  the  trouble 
to  look  about  me." 

Presumably  he  was  not  aiming  at  excursion  parties 
which  invaded  Europe  before  the  World  War,  and 
went  about,  Baedekers  in  hand,  giving  a  sweeping 
glance  at  the  most  glaring  things  that  filled  the 
eye,  losing  sight  of  the  real  gems  here  and  there, 
particularly  in  the  art  galleries.  Still  his  words 
apply  to  the  average  theatre  goer  of  the  present 
generation,  who  goes  to  kill  time,  to  see  some  pet 
player,  because  his  neighbor  goes,  or  he  is  dazzled 
by  the  shrieking  posters  along  the  highways.  Any- 
how he  is  considerably  bored  by  it  all,  and  some- 
times slumbers. 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

True  it  is,  the  stage  offers  to  many  a  mere  form 
of  amusement,  not  enlightenment,  yet  most  of  us 
feel  that  the  greatest  of  arts  is  the  dramatic.  Some- 
one has  truly  said  "The  drama  is  the  most  refined 
pleasure  of  a  polished  people."  The  fact  that  many 
theatres  are  given  over  to  a  portrayal  of  cheap 
plays  with  queer,  misleading  and  suggestive  titles 
does  not  militate  against  the  power  of  the  drama. 
No  matter  how  much  censure  and  pessimism  may 
exist,  these  cannot  run  down  the  real  drama  —  not 
one  whit.  Whether  a  play  is  high  brow  or  low  brow 
it  matters  little  so  long  as  it  is  human. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  that  some  of  my  early 
girlhood  days  were  passed  in  Charlestown,  Massa- 
chusetts, as  a  neighbor  of  E.  F.  Keach  and  his  de- 
lightful family  of  young  folks,  and  I  thus  became 
a  devotee  of  the  old  Boston  Museum,  way  back  in 
the  sixties  when  Mr.  Keach  was  manager,  and  placed 
it  on  a  high  plane  far  removed  from  a  mere  adjunct 
of  a  museum  for  the  display  of  wax  figures.  When 
Kate  Reignolds  received  an  offer  from  Mr.  Keach 
to  play  there  she  promptly  declined,  as  the  name 
suggested  curios  and  lay  figures,  but  second  thought 
prevailed  as  shown  later  on.  Back  of  Mr.  Keach, 
to  be  exact,  in  1843,  ^  stock  company  was  estab- 
lished,  and  in  it  the  late  Adelaide  Phillips  made 

1:123 


THE     BOSTON     MUSEUM 

her  debut  at  ten  in  "The  Spoiled  Child."  Quite 
the  most  popular  actor  there  then  was  W.  H.  Smith, 
called  "Smithy"  by  his  intimates.  He  was  a  School 
street  tailor  by  day,  and  quite  clever.  He  comes 
within  my  recollection  in  the  '6o's  —  hence  mention 
here. 

The  history  of  this  playhouse  has  been  written 
exhaustively  and  there  is  hterally  nothing  to  add, 
apart  from  a  few  personal  reminiscences.  It  was 
for  a  decade  considered  a  Boston  institution,  was 
patronized  by  the  elect,  the  so-called  Chippendales, 
the  church  deacon,  and  then  on,  to  lovers  of  the 
drama  generally,  including  the  "Gallery  Gods"  as 
the  small  fry  were  called  at  that  time.  Here,  too, 
babies  in  arms  were  admitted. 

In  spite  of  its  popularity  and  prestige  we  fmd 
this  in  an  old  newspaper  (printed  in  1853)  "The 
Boston  Museum  has  been  outraging  decency  by  re- 
viving the  vulgar  negro  extravaganza,  *  Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin.' "  Well,  there  came  an  evolution  in  senti- 
ment, for  later  on  some  scribe  commented  on  that 
early  verdict  in  this  way:  "The  Boston  Museum 
continued  to  *  outrage  decency'  and  otherwise  con- 
duct its  affairs,  for  a  remarkable  long  term  of 
years,  and  its  memory  is  still  fondly  if  not  rever- 
ently  kept   by  the  older   Bostonians  —  those  who 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

were  patrons  of  what  was  one  of  the  nation's  most 
famous  playhouses." 

As  William  Seymour  declared  in  his  farewell  ad- 
dress delivered  at  the  final  curtain  June  i,  1903, 
"The  record  of  the  Boston  Museum  is  exceptional 
in  the  history  of  the  American  stage."  Farther  on 
he  said,  "There  is  hardly  a  great  actor  of  the  two 
last  generations  who  has  not  been  seen  on  this 
stage."  He  made  happy  allusion  to  the  Daven- 
port family  (one  of  whom  —  May  Davenport  — 
he  married)  when  he  said  "Not  only  E.  L.  Daven- 
port, but  his  wife,  their  sons  and  daughters,  and 
their  granddaughter  —  my  own  daughter  —  have  all 
appeared  at  the  Museum." 


Never  will  I  forget  that  last  night  when  the  play 
*'  Mrs.  Dane's  Defence"  was  not  "the  thing"  for  there 
were  many  features  not  down  on  the  bill.  Charles 
Frohman*s  notable  company  had  the  honor  of  closing 
the  house.  In  it  were  Margaret  Anglin,  William 
Courtleigh,  Guy  Standing,  Oswald  Yorke  (who 
married  dainty  Annie  Russell);  E.  Y.  Backus; 
Sandol  Milliken;  Ethel  Hornick;  W.  H.  Crompton 
and  others.  At  the  close  the  house  rose  and  with 
moistened  eyes  sang  "Auld  Lang  Syne." 

1:143 


THE      BOSTON     MUSEUM 

It  was  my  privilege,  after  the  age  of  discrimina- 
tion, to  see  all  the  plays  at  this  house,  as  proven  by 
a  complete  and  cherished  collection  of  programs; 
the  oldest  of  all  tells  of  **Rosedale'*  one  of  my 
favorite  plays,  and  seen  many  times.  This  was 
put  on  in  the  early  '6o's  and  what  a  cast!  L.  R. 
Shewell;  Warren  and  Vincent  (as  they  were  lov- 
ingly dovetailed) ;  Frank  Hardenburgh;  JosieOrton, 
Emily  Mestayer  and  Kate  Reignolds,  the  entire 
strength  of  the  company  utilized.  This  was  a 
popular  play,  revived  often,  and  played  by  many. 
Twenty-five  years  later  on  the  same  stage  and  at 
the  suggestion  of  the  late  R.  M.  Field  who  was 
rounding  out  his  quarter  century  as  manager,  "Rose- 
dale"  was  given  as  a  tribute  to  Lester  Wallack  who 
created  the  part  of  Eliot  Grey,  with  another  notable 
cast,  including  Annie  M.  Clarke;  C.  Leslie  Allen; 
Jack  Mason  as  Grey;  George  Wilson;  Charles 
Abbe;  Miriam  O'Leary,  Kate  Ryan,  Fanny  Addi- 
son-Pitt and  others.     Only  five  are  alive  at  present. 

Seeing  so  many  plays  at  this  house  it  is  difficult  to 
make  selection,  yet  some  linger  longest  in  memory, 
like  the  dramatization  of  the  works  of  Dickens 
such  as  "Oliver  Twist,"  "Christmas  Carol,"  "David 
Copperfield,"  billed  as  "Little  Em'Iy,"  and  all  so 
well  cast.     Who  will  ever  forget  the  Dan  and  Ham 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

Peggotty  of  Charles  Barron  and  Jack  Mason,  or  the 
Rosa  Dartle  of  Annie  Clarke,  the  Micawber  of 
Warren  and  Aunt  Betsy  Trotwood  of  Mrs.  Vincent. 
Vividly  I  recall  the  first  performance  of  "Pinafore" 
at  this  house  Nov.  25,  '78,  with  George  Wilson  as 
Sir  Joseph  Porter;  Marie  Wainwright  as  Josephine; 
Lizzie  Harold  as  Buttercup,  and  buxom  Sadie  Mar- 
tinot  as  Hebe.  Then  came  the  Children's  Pina- 
fore with  Corinne  as  Buttercup  (as  pictured  in  this 
book  in  that  character);  Ida  Mulle  as  Josephine, 
and  more  than  fifty  little  folks  in  the  company. 
These  had  long  runs  everywhere.  In  '95  "Zip'* 
was  given,  Annie  Clarke  returning  to  the  Museum 
for  this  one  play,  and  then  came  the  winding  up  of 
the  stock  company  and  opening  of  the  combination 
plan. 

Here  I  first  saw  Mme.  Modjeska  (Countess 
Bozenta)  and  ten  years  later  called  on  her  in  Cali- 
fornia on  the  ranch  where  she  died  a  few  years  ago. 
She  was,  perhaps,  the  most  celebrated  Polish  actress 
to  come  here,  and  her  art  was  transcendent.  Then 
came  Fanny  Davenport  whom  it  was  ever  a  joy  to 
see  and  hear,  also  to  meet  at  close  range  at  her 
seaside  home  in  South  Duxbury,  Massachusetts, 
"Melbourne  Hall,"  where  she  took  her  guests  lov- 
ingly to  an  upper  room  devoted  to  the  memory  of 


CORINNE 

As  "Little  Buttercup." 


LOTTA 


JOSIE    ORTON 


THE     BOSTON     MUSEUM 

her  parents  the  late  E.  L.  and  Mrs.  Davenport. 
Here  were  treasures  indeed,  a  veritable  shrine  for 
the  devoted  family.  Across  the  way  is  the  home 
then,  and  now,  of  her  sister  May  Davenport- 
Seymour,  who  gathers  around  her  the  children  and 
grandchildren  —  but  of  the  Seymours  more  anon! 
Debonair  Charles  Stevenson  made  his  first  ap- 
pearance at  the  Museum  in  '73  as  Steerforth  in 
"Little  Em'Iy,"  one  of  the  strong  suits  at  this  house, 
and  annually  revived.  He  was  born  in  Ireland, 
graduated  from  Trinity  University,  Dubhn,  and 
accompanied  the  Boucicaults  to  this  country  in 
'72.  Later  he  went  to  Wallacks  and  there  created 
the  role  of  the  Chevalier  in  "The  Two  Orphans," 
then  doubling  as  Pierre  the  cripple.  For  fourteen 
years  he  played  in  that  company  with  Kate  Claxton, 
whom  he  married  in  '78.  He  was  lost  to  the  stage 
for  awhile  but  returned  in  support  of  Mrs.  Leslie 
Carter.  Theatre  goers  know  of  his  several  years 
with  Belasco,  his  creation  later  of  the  part  of  Wealth 
in  "Experience"  and  now  we  find  him  on  the  screen 
doing  commendable  work.  He  was  a  so-called 
matinee  idol,  but  what  we  best  recall  is  his  remark- 
able reading  of  the  lines.  Kate  Claxton,  who  also 
played  engagements  at  the  Museum,  retired  long 
ago  and  now  resides  at  Larchmont  Manor,   New 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

York.  She  first  appeared  with  Lotta  in  Chicago 
in  'jo.  Later  she  became  a  member  of  Daly*s 
company,  and  of  the  Union  Square,  where  she  created 
the  role  of  Louise  in  "The  Two  Orphans,"  a  part 
singularly  fitted  to  her  somewhat  pathetic  features, 
her  eyes  simulating  blindness  starthngly.  She  was 
ably  supported  from  time  to  time  by  such  eminent 
players  as  Mrs.  Thomas  Barry,  Kitty  Blanchard, 
F.  F.  Mackey,  Marie  Wilkins,  C.  Leslie  Allen, 
McKee  Rankin,  Ida  Vernon,  Maud  Granger,  Joe 
Wheelock,  Charles  R.  Thorne,  and  Stuart  Robson. 
At  the  Museum  I  also  saw  Mile.  Rhea,  the  sad- 
faced  Eleonora  Duse,  Lester  Wallack,  Clara  Morris, 
Salvini,  the  elder,  "  Billy "  Florence  and.  wife, 
Janauschek  —  there  was  an  actress  for  you,  the 
nearest  approach  to  Charlotte  Cushman  the  stage 
has  yet  produced!  Here  too  I  saw  John  T.  Ray- 
mond, Daly's  immortal  company  and  so  on,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  musical  successes  put  on  from  time 
to  time  and  the  various  combination  bookings. 
This  chapter  would  not  be  complete  without  mention 
of  the  younger  ones  who  came  along  in  stock  in  the 
'70's  like  Kate  Ryan  who,  in  her  book  "Old  Museum 
Days'*  has,  in  a  chatty  way,  told  the  story  of  her 
co-workers,  paying  well  deserved  tributes.  Only  a 
few  even   of  that    later  company   are   now  alive. 


MIRIAM   O'LEARY   and   KATE   RYAN 


LILLIAN    RUSSELL    at    21 


FANNY    WARD    at    17 


THE     BOSTON     MUSEUM 

We  Still  have  Miriam  O'Leary  of  the  laughing  eyes, 
whose  daughter  Miriam  Collins  is  a  Broadway  suc- 
cess, and  who  created  the  part  of  Love  in  "Ex- 
perience" when  William  EHiott  played  Youth, 
Agnes  Acres,  a  sister  retired  to  domestic  hfe  years 
ago,  has  a  son  to  inherit  her  gifts  in  Barton  Jenks, 
conspicuous  in  Harvard  College  plays  as  a  student 
there. 

Then,  left  to  us  is  George  Wilson  who  succeeded 
Warren  so  creditably  and  who  still  resides  in  Boston. 
Though  one  of  the  best  comedians  in  his  line,  it  is  of 
interest  to  note  that  he  began  his  career  in  "Othello" 
in  '77.  Many  who  recall  him  feel  that  his  biggest 
hit  was  as  old  Macclesfield  in  "The  Guv'ner"  and 
I  have  never  seen  it  done  so  well.  The  late  H.  M. 
Pitt  and  his  estimable  wife  Fanny  Addison  still  in 
harness  were  a  distinct  addition  to  the  company. 
Then  came  a  younger  element  in  Isabelle  Evesson, 
Maida  Craigen,  Edgar  L.  Davenport,  the  Booth 
brothers,  Emma  Sheridan  Fry,  Marie  Burress,  the 
handsome  Southern  blonde,  who  so  delighted  us  in 
Agatha  and  other  plays  as  leading  woman;  Bob 
Edeson,  Melbourne  MacDowell,  Ned  Rose,  erst- 
while actor,  prompter,  stage  manager,  director,  and 
now  author  and  producer;  George  Schiller  who  has 
a  long  stage  career  to  his  credit  beginning  at  the 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

Howard  Athenaeum  as  the  eccentric  cat  in  the  ex- 
travanganza  "Robinson  Crusoe."  He  is  still  with 
us,  so  is  Charlie  Abbe. 

One  of  the  plays  recalled  in  '87  is  "Tom  Jones" 
camouflaged  under  the  name  of  "Sophia,"  which 
put  it  over  with  the  intellectuals.  It  was  admirably- 
done;  Charles  Barron  played  Tom;  William  Sey- 
mour, Squire  Weston;  Annie  Clarke,  Lady  Bellas- 
ton;  May  Davenport,  Molly  Seagrim;  Isabelle 
Evesson,  Sophia.  James  Nolan,  who  married  Kate 
Ryan,  Grace  Atwell,  E.  E.  Rose  and  James  Bur- 
roughs were  in  the  cast.  Early  this  year  the  Jewett 
Players  put  the  piece  on  at  the  Copley  Theatre, 
Boston,  as  "Tom  Jones"  and  the  house  was  packed 
with  a  smart  following,  though  they  do  say  that 
dear  old  Tom  was  distinctly  purified  by  Buchanan 
in  the  stage  version. 


n2o3 


II 

CHARLOTTE  CUSHMAN 

FOREMOST  among  actresses  to  impress  me  in 
early  girlhood  days  was  Charlotte  Cushman 
whose  personality  and  art  can  never  be 
effaced  from  memory.  Authors  and  writers  generally 
have  told  her  story  and  told  it  well.  Boston  born, 
with  the  blood  of  the  early  Pilgrims  in  her  veins,  she 
was  **to  the  manner  born,"  divinely  gifted,  and  be- 
came the  greatest  tragedienne  of  her  generation. 
Three  characteristics  were  hers,  the  power  of  con- 
centration, perseverance  and  indomitable  courage. 
In  later  years  she  developed  the  force  and  cultiva- 
tion of  mind  over  matter  knowing  that  she  had  an 
incurable  malady. 

Charlotte  Cushman  lacked  what  is  called  personal 
charm,  yet  held  full  sway  over  the  hearts  and  emo- 
tions of  all  within  the  sound  of  her  rich  contralto 
voice.  It  was  my  privilege  to  meet  her  face  to  face 
in  her  dressing  room,  taken  there  by  a  mutual 
friend.     It  was  then  I  heard  the  story  of  why  she 

C213 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

never  married  —  rather  of  her  one  romance  in  life 
which,  strange  to  say,  has  not  to  my  knowledge 
been  pubhshed.  It  was  truly  a  tragedy  or  an  "es- 
cape," according  to  one's  point  of  view,  and  it  does 
not  seem  in  keeping  to  go  into  the  details.  The  fact 
is,  she  was  enamored  of  her  leading  man,  Conrad 
Clark,  whose  duplicity  was  discovered  one  evening 
in  a  dramatic  manner  behind  the  scenes.  It  was  a 
case  of  the  eternal  triangle  of  life,  and  we  can  well 
imagine  with  what  majesty  she  dismissed  him  from 
her  presence.  The  expose  came  during  the  play, 
but  Miss  Cushman  went  through  her  part,  as  Queen 
Catherine,  to  the  curtain.  Then  at  the  close,  she 
sent  for  him  for  the  final  word.  Thus  ended  her  first 
and  only  romance!  As  to  her  acting  there  was  little 
difference  of  opinion  even  among  the  critics,  for  she 
held  all  spellbound.  As  Meg  Merrilies  she  reached 
high  water  mark,  and  no  one  with  the  possible  ex- 
ception of  Janauschek  (so  like  her  physically)  has 
equalled  her.  Mary  Anderson  tried  it,  but  could  not 
get  into  the  character,  or  conceal  her  good  looks 
sufficiently.  It  is  of  interest  to  know  here  that  the 
play  "Guy  Mannering,"  which  emphasized  the 
character  of  Meg,  was  written  by  an  uncle  of  Ellen 
Terry  and  first  produced  in  London.  He  and  the 
author  of  the  book  were  intimate   friends.     Then 

n223 


CHARLOTTE     CUSHMAN 

Dion  Boucicault  got  hold  of  it,  adapted  some  in- 
cidents in  the  novel,  and  moved  it  to  Ireland  with  an 
Irish  name.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  Agnes 
Booth  gave  us  a  taste  of  her  versatihty  in  a  Meg 
not  easily  forgotten,  but  few  have  ventured  to  as- 
sume the  role  except  for  a  hmited  engagement. 

Charlotte  Cushman's  large  physique  and  deep 
voice  fitted  her  for  male  roles  in  which  she  excelled 
like  those  of  Romeo,  Hamlet,  Cardinal  Wolsey  and 
Claude  Melnotte.  Her  work  was  far  from  crude, 
and  compared  favorably  with  many  male  Hamlets 
and  the* like.  She  led  a  long  useful  hfe  and  left  a 
rich  inheritance  among  true  lovers  of  the  drama. 
It  was  my  privilege  to  witness  her  last  performance 
in  Boston  at  the  Globe  theatre  in  '74  when  she  played 
Lady  Macbeth,  supported  by  D.  W.  Waller  and  a 
strong  company,  all  gone  from  our  midst.  Just 
previously,  she  appeared  in  a  series  of  farewell  per- 
formances in  New  York,  closing  in  the  same  play 
supported  by  George  VandenhofF  and  Frederick 
Warde  now  alive  and  doing  finished  work  on  the 
screen.  At  the  Boston  performance  the  late  Curtis 
Guild,  Sr.,  spoke  for  the  public,  closing  with  the 
words  "  Many  the  parts  you  have  played  to  the  end, 
your  best  were  those  of  sister,  lady,  friend.*'  Miss 
Cushman   responded   saying    "Looking   back    upon 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

my  career  I  think  I  may  without  vain  glory  say, 
that  I  have  not  by  any  act  of  my  life  done  discredit 
to  the  city  of  my  birth.  Believe  me  I  shall  carry 
away  with  my  retirement  no  memory  sweeter  than 
my  associations  with  Boston  and  my  Boston  public. 
From  my  full  heart  I  thank  you." 

In  two  years  she  left  us  and  was  buried  from  Kings 
Chapel  across  from  the  Parker  House  where  she  had 
made  her  home.  She  had  no  fear  of  death  and,  being 
deeply  rehgious,  she  once  said  **I  can  go  to  any 
church  and  find  God."  Near  her  beloved  poet 
Longfellow  and  nearer  still  to  the  great  actor  Edwin 
Booth,  in  Mount  Auburn,  Cambridge,  Massachusetts, 
she  sleeps,  beneath  a  simple  obelisk  on  the  hillside. 
Small  wonder  we  find  in  New  York  University's 
Hall  of  Fame  the  name  of  Charlotte  Cushman,  the 
first  of  her  profession  to  be  thus  honored! 


C243 


CHARLOTTE   CUSHMAN 


4f* 


ADELAIDE    NEILSON 


ANNIE    CLARKE  KATE    REIGNOLDS-WINSLOW 

3ln  Hobins  Sl^cmorp 


Ill 

IN  LOVING  MEMORY 

ALONG  with  Charlotte  Cushman  we  place  on 
memory's  page  for  the  theatre  other  names 
like  Kate  Reignolds,  whose  ''Yesterday  with 
Actors  "  should  be  in  the  home  of  every  lover  of  the 
drama.  She  was  a  highly  distinguished  member 
of  the  Museum  company  in  the  early  '6o's.  In 
later  years  she  married  Mr.  Erving  Winslow,  a  Boston 
merchant,  and  retired  from  the  stage.  It  was  then 
I  met  her  personally,  listened  to  her  still  glorious 
voice  and  also  heard  her  loyal  tributes  to  the  drama 
as  an  art;  and  she  was  the  embodiment  of  all  it 
stood  for,  in  its  highest  development.  For  some 
years  she  appeared  occasionally  on  the  platform  as 
a  reader  of  plays,  when  thousands,  from  time  to 
time,  sat  at  her  feet  and  profited  thereby. 

Her  book  tells  little  of  herself  but  it  scintillates 
with  tributes  to  her  co-workers,  and  they  were  many. 
Of  Charlotte  Cushman  she  writes  "Others  have  found 
their  imitators  and  successors  but  the  force  of  her 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

genius  so  stamped  our  memories  that  we  cannot 
regret  that  the  great  queen's  throne  remains  empty.'* 
So  on,  down  the  hne,  always  the  magnanimous 
spirit,  resplendent  on  every  page  —  in  fact  the 
book  radiates  love  of  her  fellow  creatures.  Special 
tributes  are  paid  Warren,  "dear  old  lady"  Vincent 
and  Josie  Orton,  who  is  the  only  surviving  member 
of  that  wonderful  company  under  Keach.  She  is 
the  widow  of  Ben  Woolf  of  Boston,  and  resides  at 
an  advanced  age  in  Brooklyn,  New  York. 

Kate  Reignolds  made  her  debut  at  four  in  Eng- 
land, an  impromptu  affair  in  a  drawing  room,  where 
her  mother  was  entertainer  and  had  to  take  the 
child  along  to  keep  her  engagement.  Of  her  early 
home  she  writes  sparingly,  owing  to  an  inborn 
dislike  of  invading  the  domestic  privacy  of  actors. 
She  writes,  "The  veil  that  shelters  home  should  be 
sacred;  indeed  it  has  always  seemed  to  me  the  very 
gifts  of  ourselves  behind  the  foothghts  ought  to  make 
them  a  barrier  between  the  world  and  the  rest  of 
our  lives."  Her  book  is  introduced  in  the  preface 
as  "only  a  few  wayside  notes  culled  from  a  pubhc 
career."  They  are  notes  that  count  and  they  tell 
of  Forrest,  and  the  Forrest  Home  for  old  players 
near  Philadelphia;  of  John  Brougham;  Agnes  Rob- 
ertson, Ben  de  Bar,  Mrs.  John  Wood,  Laura  Keene, 

1:263 


IN     LOVING     MEMORY 

E.  A.  Sothern,  Matilda  Heron  and  equally  fine 
players  as  she  knew  them  personally  and  profes- 
sionally. Her  retirement  was  regretted  by  all,  inter- 
nationally so. 

Among  well  known  leading  players  personally 
known  to  me  was  Charles  Barron  who  Hved  to  a 
ripe  old  age  and  passed  on  in  'i8.  He  bequeathed 
to  the  stage  that  clever  actress,  Beverly  West, 
his  granddaughter.  On  a  program  before  me  is 
his  narne,  in  support  of  Kate  Denin-Ryan  in  **The 
Hidden  Hand'*  played  in  Portland,  Maine,  in  '60. 
Both  became  members  of  the  Boston  Museum  com- 
pany, when  Kate  Denin  dropped  the  name  of  Ryan, 
eloped  with,  and  married  John  Wilson,  the  handsome 
young  husband  of  Mrs.  Vincent,  much  to  the  con- 
sternation of  those  immediately  concerned,  and  to 
the  staid  devotees  of  that  playhouse.  The  couple 
were  lost  sight  of  for  awhile,  when  Kate  Denin  re- 
turned to  the  stage  in  dowager  parts,  in  support  of 
such  players  as  Eleanor  Robson  with  whom  she 
last  appeared.  She  died  in  '07,  Wilson  much 
earlier,  and  they  left  three  children. 

In  connection  with  my  school  days  comes  the 
picture  of  Annie  Clarke  in  all  her  glorious  beauty, 
so  appealing  to  the  susceptible  young  minds  of  that 
day.     She    was    leading    woman    at    the    Museum 

n273 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

twenty  years,  succeeding  Kate  Denin  after  the  es- 
capade alluded  to,  and  she  was  ever  the  dependable. 
She  caught  my  fancy  and,  as  time  went  on,  we  be- 
came fast  friends  up  to  her  death,  which  occurred 
while  playing  in  a  travelhng  company.  She  had 
no  special  fads  but  usually  with  an  eye  to  the  artistic 
garbed  herself  in  the  tints  to  match  her  brunette 
beauty,  like  pale  yellow  shades,  up  to  the  deep 
brown  of  her  street  gowns.  We  used  to  steal  away 
for  the  matinees,  and  hang  round  the  lobby  to  see 
her  come  out,  for  there  was  no  real  rear  stage  en- 
trance or  exit  there  at  the  time;  then  we  followed 
her  along  the  street  until  waning  strength  turned 
our  steps  homeward.  It  was  difficult  to  acquire 
the  price  of  a  ride  in  those  days  but  when  we  did, 
it  was  to  walk  to  Salem  Street,  board  the  bus  with 
its  straw  laden  floor,  and  then  be  dropped  at  the 
end  of  the  route  —  Scollay  Square,  but  conven- 
iently near  our  beloved  charmer. 

Then  comes,  to  memory  dear,  Edwin  Booth,  his 
art  and  his  sorrows.  It  is  well  that  the  Players 
Club  of  New  York  City,  which  he  founded,  should 
erect  a  statue  of  him  in  Gramercy  Park  close  to 
their  doors,  and  that  it  should  picture  him  as  Ham- 
let for  "we  will  never  look  upon  his  like  again." 
His  name  is  still  creditably  borne  on  the  stage  by 

t282 


SARAH   BERNHARDT 


ELLEN   TERRY 


IDA   VERNON 


CLARA    MORRIS 


IN     LOVING     MEMORY 

a  nephew,  Sydney  Booth,  son  of  Junius  Brutus 
Booth  and  his  wife  Agnes  Booth,  who  later  became 
Mrs.  John  B.  Schoeffel.  Young  Booth  greatly 
resembles  his  uncle  and  is  the  only  one  to  bear  the 
precious  name  today. 

Then  to  have  seen  Adelaide  Neilson,  who  went 
out  of  life  too  soon,  by  many  years!  Ah,  there  was 
an  artist  and  a  beauty,  by  nature  sweet  and  reverent, 
strong  and  earnest  of  soul!  At  twelve  she  was  able 
to  recite  the  tragedies  of  Shakespeare,  as  well  as 
other  plays  and  was  an  inveterate  student  of  the 
drama.  Juliets  may  come  and  go,  but  hers  lives 
forever.  Julia  Marlowe  is  the  nearest  approach  to  it 
of  anyone  yet  seen,  also  in  others  of  the  classic 
dramas,  and  so  it  is  a  joy  to  see  her  again  on  our 
stage.  Neilson  died  suddenly  in  Paris  in  '85,  and 
lies  buried  in  England  beneath  a  large  cross  of  carved 
caster  lilies  bearing  the  simplest  inscription. 

Looming  high  on  memory's  horizon  comes 
Lawrence  Barrett,  with  his  splendid  art,  so  distinc- 
tively his  own;  dear  "Joe"  Jefferson,  whose  sons 
succeed  him  on  the  stage,  the  elder  Sothern  whose 
mantle  has  fallen  gracefully  on  his  son  —  the  fortu- 
nate husband  of  Julia  Marlowe;  the  great  Salvini 
from  Italy,  and  his  lamented  son  Alexander  who 
died  many  years  too  soon. 

n293 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

Clara  Morris  —  there's  a  name  to  conjure  with! 
One  of  the  best  emotional  actresses  of  her  day, 
minus  beauty  and  good  health  at  that!  She  held 
us  all  in  her  power  by  sheer  magnetism;  **The  Ameri- 
can Actress,"  that  is  what  they  called  her  rightly, 
for  she  was  in  a  class  by  herself.  Her  personahty 
was  felt  by  the  most  blase  critics.  No  one's  Camilla 
has  quite  come  up  to  her  interpretation,  and  I  have 
seen  all  those  worth  while.  Perhaps  "Miss  Multon" 
pictured  in  this  book  was  a  better  all  round  play 
but  "Article  47"  was  a  close  second.  Whatever 
she  essayed,  it  hit  our  emotions  at  once.  Now  she 
is  old  and  bhnd,  but  able  to  dictate  for  publication 
her  memoirs,  and  many  articles  for  the  press.  The 
story  of  her  life  tells  of  her  art,  her  tenacity  and 
cheerfulness,  despite  the  illness  which  beset  her  all 
through  her  life.  For  nearly  forty  years  she  lived 
in  Yonkers  where  I  once  visited  her;  the  old 
fashioned  house  is  now  a  motion  picture  studio. 
Her  friends  are  legion  and  have  made  her  closing 
years  comfortable  over  in  Tuckahoe,  New  York. 
No  breath  of  scandal  ever  touched  her;  she  is 
listed  in  "Who's  Who  in  America." 

Ida  Vernon  is  one  of  the  grandes  dames  of  the  stage 
now  retired  after  a  notable  career,  beginning  at  the 
age   of  twelve   as   Puck   in   "Midsummer   Night's 


IN     LOVING     MEMORY 

Dream"  with  Edwin  Booth,  back  in  *^6.  This  was 
at  the  Boston  theatre  **befo'  the  war,"  as  they  say 
in  her  Dixie  land.  When  that  was  over,  during 
which  she  had  an  encounter  with  Abraham  Lincoln, 
when  she  was  under  arrest  by  orders  of  Ben  Butler, 
she  resumed  activities  in  Booth's  company  and 
has  a  record  of  more  than  sixty  years  on  the  stage. 
Her  ** Memories'*  in  preparation,  will  be  illuminat- 
ing, but,  from  what  I  know  of  her  modesty,  they  will 
not  scintillate  with  stories  of  her  own  triumphs. 
For  eleven  years,  up  to  her  withdrawal,  she  was 
with  William  Hodge,  creating  parts  hke  the  one  in 
"The  Man  from  Home,"  the  "Road  to  Happiness" 
and  other  plays.  It  was  a  privilege  to  meet  her  and 
look  into  her  sad  but  still  beautiful  eyes,  and  fully 
to  reahze  what  Ida  Vernon  stands  for. 

She,  like  Charlotte  Cushman,  had  a  sad  romance, 
yet  happily  in  connection  with  a  man  above  re- 
proach —  Edwin  Booth.  They  loved  each  other 
but  circumstance  and  a  misunderstanding  conspired 
to  separate  them.  Wherever  Ida  Vernon  is,  you 
will  find  a  portrait  of  Booth  on  her  desk  with  fresh 
flowers  before  it.  She  was  convent  bred,  with 
a  touch  of  Scotch  tenacity  in  her,  is  a  Christian 
Scientist,  and  carries  harmony  along  combined  with 
faith. 

1:313 


STAGE     AND      SCREEN 

Maggie  Mitchell  and  Lotta  line  up  in  memory, 
as  inimitable  in  their  special  line  of  work.  The 
former  passed  away  in  'i8  after  a  long  useful  life 
dating  from  '60,  when  she  made  her  first  appearance 
at  the  Boston  Museum,  with  her  sister  Mary.  Then 
she  toured  the  country  in  a  special  repertoire  which 
included  "The  Pearl  of  Savoy"  "Fanchon"  and  the 
like.  She  married  twice,  the  second  time,  Charles 
Abbott,  widely  known  today  in  theatrical  circles, 
who  put  on  "Niobe"  in  conjunction  with  Ben 
Teal.  At  the  age  of  eighty-two  she  astonished 
Broadway  by  going  over  from  her  Long  Island 
home  to  see  Cyril  Maude  in  "Grumpy."  She  was 
in  no  sense  a  rival  of  Lotta,  as  each  had  a  distinctive 
personality  and  art  all  their  own.  "The  Cali- 
fornia Diamond"  we  still  have  with  us,  as  sprightly 
as  of  yore,  and  attending  the  theatres  regularly. 
Before  me  are  two  programs  —  one  "La  Cigale" 
which  opened  the  new  Park  theatre,  made  over  from 
Beethoven  Hall,  owned  and  dedicated  by  Lotta 
April  14,  '79,  and  another  bill  telling  of  an  earlier 
performance  at  the  Boston  theatre,  Sept,  28,  '68, 
when  she  put  on  "Firefly,  or  the  Friend  of  the  Flag," 
supported  by  Charles  R.  Thorne,  and  others  long 
since  passed  away.  She  was  born  in  New  York, 
and  went  to  the  Coast  with  her  parents  when  very 


IN      LOVING     MEMORY 

young.  She  was  tremendously  popular  and  called 
by  many  "The  Dramatic  Cocktail."  Her  love  for 
Cahfornia  never  waned  and  so  she  presented  the 
city  with  a  drinking  fountain  for  dumb  animals, 
to  whom  she  is  devoted.  Lotta  is  the  wealthiest 
actress  now  living,  and  owns  much  real  estate. 
She  retired  some  years  ago,  too  soon  to  suit  the 
pubhc.  She  devotes  much  time  to  her  brush  and 
to  music. 

Agnes  Booth  is  a  blessed  memory  too  and  it  was 
a  hberal  education  to  know  her  as  I  did,  toward  the 
close  of  her  career.  We  met  at  her  seaside  home 
at  Manchester,  Massachusetts,  at  an  outdoor  per- 
formance of  *'As  You  Like  It"  given  by  her,  for  the 
Actors  Fund  of  America,  August  8,  '87.  Just  glance 
at  the  cast!  Osmond  Tearle,  Fred,  Minnie  and 
LiUian  Conway,  Frank  Mayo,  Stuart  Robson, 
George  C.  Boniface,  Mark  Price,  George  Schiller, 
Wilham  H.  Crane,  Maida  Craigen,  Frazer  Coulter 
and  Charles  Abbott,  to  say  nothing  of  the  hostess 
herself.  I  first  saw  her  as  Agnes  Perry  before  she 
wedded  Booth,  in  the  play  "Ours"  at  the  Boston 
theatre  March  22,  '67,  put  on  for  her  benefit.  Her 
"Jim  the  Penman"  has  never  been  approached. 
She  left  one  son  Sydney  Booth  already  spoken  of. 

L  33  J 


IV 

WILLIAM  SEYMOUR 

A  LIVING  bureau  of  information  is  William 
Seymour,  actor,  stage  manager,  director, 
writer  and  authority  on  plays  and  players. 
His  big  den  in  the  Seymour  summer  home  "Clamavi 
Towers"  in  South  Duxbury,  Massachusetts,  is  one 
to  travel  far  to  see,  and  revel  in,  for  here  in  his 
library  are  his  art  treasures,  books  on  all  subjects 
relating  to  the  stage,  records  of  stock  companies 
and  great  producers,  like  the  lamented  Charles 
Frohman  with  whom  he  was  associated  so  many 
years.  Here  are  books,  old  and  new,  all  of  value 
to  one  who  likes  to  browse  in  book  stalls,  or  to  ob- 
tain late  data.  Presumably  he  has  all  the  books 
penned  by  and  about  players  —  the  old  and  modern, 
some  quite  rare  editions,  many  of  them  autographed. 
Here  are  countless  playbills,  photographs,  oil  paint- 
ings of  great  stars,  stage  props,  armors,  swords, 
curios,  and  priceless  articles  —  a  valuable  and  in- 
structive collection.     Here,  too,  are  pictures   from 

n343 


o  . 
w  I 

in  S 

o  -^ 

c 


WILLIAM     SEYMOUR 

the  estate  of  the  late  Fanny  Davenport,  willed  to 
her  sister,  May  Davenport-Seymour.  One  of  the 
treats  of  last  summer  was  my  stay  in  their  hospitable 
home  where  we  turned  the  hourglass  back  a  bit  on 
matters  of  mutual  interest,  concerning  the  drama. 

As  already  mentioned,  Mr.  Seymour  was  for  many 
years  stage  director  of  the  Boston  Museum  com- 
pany, and  he  has  had  a  distinguished  career  second 
to  none  I  can  at  this  time  recall.  He  has  played 
with  the  noted  stars  of  fifty  years  ago,  and  began 
to  act  when  very  young,  in  New  Orleans,  inheriting 
his  art  from  his  parents.  At  17  he  was  a  director, 
then  on  to  New  York,  Cahfornia  and  Boston.  I 
first  saw  him  at  the  Museum  in  "London  Assurance'* 
in  '79  playing  Dolly  Spanker  and  it  was  in  a  com- 
pany hard  to  approach  as  to  personnel  and  team 
work.  Here  are  their  names  —  Charles  Barron, 
Alfred  Hudson,  William  Warren,  Joseph  Haworth, 
George  Wilson,  May  Davenport,  James  Nolan,  Sadie 
Martinot,  Jack  Mason  and  Annie  Clarke  —  some  cast ! 
This  was  a  benefit  to  Miss  Clarke;  only  four  of  that 
company  are  now  ahvc.  He  was  stage  manager  as 
well  as  player,  and  his  services  are  sought  even  now. 

He  is  supremely  happy  in  his  home  life  and  his 
countless  friends.  Mr.  Seymour  refers  feelingly 
always  to  his  old  associates  like  Sol  Smith  Russell, 

1:353 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

that  embodiment  of  cheer  and  clean  comedy;  to 
Charles  Frohman  whom  he  loved  hke  a  brother,  to 
Lawrence  Barrett,  Edwin  Booth,  John  E.  Owens, 
Joseph  Jefferson  and  E.  L.  Davenport.  He  married 
May  Davenport  and  they  have  reared  a  fine  family 
with  grandchildren  to  dehght  their  dechning  years. 
Mrs.  Seymour  first  appeared  in  Philadelphia  with 
her  parents,  then  she  went  to  Daly's  company  and 
to  the  Boston  Museum,  for  second  leads  in  '79, 
playing  in  "The  Danichefi's"  and  later  successes. 
She  also  supported  her  sister  Fanny  Davenport 
leaving  her  to  marry  Mr.  Seymour.  One  daughter 
May  (now  Mrs.  W.  S.  Eckert)  appeared  at  the 
Museum  in  "The  Little  Princess"  and  made  a 
favorable  impression.  Here  is  a  program  before 
me  dated  '63  with  a  cast  in  a  memorable  play  "  Rose- 
dale"  with  Mr.  Seymour's  mother  in  the  cast  — 
Mrs.  L.  E.  Seymour  playing  Lady  Angela,  and 
"master"  Willie  Seymour,  Sir  Arthur  May.  Law- 
rence Barrett  was  Eliot  Grey;  and  he  retained  this 
play  in  his  repertoire  until  he  joined  Edwin  Booth, 
in  the  late  '8o's  when  the  play  went  into  stock, 
being  afterward  produced  by  Mr.  Seymour  in  many 
theatres  in  this  country. 

The  Seymours  have  three  sons,  of  whom  they  are 
rightly  proud,  since  all  are  clever.     One,  Ned,  is 


WILLIAM     SEYMOUR 

in  literary  work  on  pretentious  publications  in 
New  York;  John  is  on  the  stage  in  support  of 
such  players  as  Laurette  Taylor,  John  Barrymore 
and  others;  the  third  son,  James  W.  D.,  is  a  Harvard 
graduate,  class  '17,  and  one  of  the  first  of  the  college 
squad  to  go  to  France,  where  he  served  two  years 
in  the  French  army  in  the  World  War.  He  con- 
tributed home  letters  which  were  gems  in  literature 
and  sentiment  and  which  appeared  in  the  press. 
He  is  an  amateur  player,  a  coach  for  the  Harvard 
college  plays,  member  of  the  exclusive  "47  Work- 
shop," and  recently  completed  the  two  volume 
history  of  the  American  Field  Service.  The 
daughter,  named  for  her  aunt  Fanny,  married  a 
few  years  ago  a  grandson  and  namesake  of  the  late 
R.  M.  Field,  the  successor  to  E.  F.  Keach.  Mr. 
Seymour  is  to  give  to  posterity  a  volume  of  his  career 
well  worth  possessing,  for  he  is  honestly  and  earnestly 
interested  in  the  drama  at  its  best,  deploring  any 
decadence.  His  reminiscences  frequently  appear, 
during  the  holiday  season  (for  him),  in  the  columns 
of  the  Hub's  literary  daily  —  the  Boston  Transcript. 
They  are  of  immense  value  to  students  of  the  stage. 
During  last  season  he  was  director  and  player  in 
the  company  of  George  Arliss  and  created  a  role. 
Long  live  William  Seymour! 

1:37] 


V 

SOME  BIG  PLAYERS 

A  YOUNG  GIRL  went  to  see  Ellen  Terry  as 
Nance  Oldfield.  She  was  full  of  enthusiasm 
over  Miss  Terry's  beauty  and  sprighthness, 
whereupon  her  escort  said,  laughingly,  "Why,  that 
pretty  girl  you  are  raving  about  is  a  grandmother." 
"Do  you  mean  to  say  she  isn't  young?"  was  the 
query.  "Yes,  if  you  measure  by  years."  "Well  I 
should  think  any  woman,  a  grandmother,  would  be 
ashamed  to  be  skipping  about  the  stage  in  that 
fashion."  You  see  her  whole  picture  of  the  great 
actress  had  been  changed  by  the  fact  that  she  had 
learned  her  age,  and  associated  her  with  a  certain 
type,  with  all  those  years  to  their  credit.  Words 
of  mine  fail  in  paying  tribute  to  Ellen  Terry,  who 
astonished  the  world  by  marrying  for  the  third  time, 
when  past  sixty,  to  say  nothing  of  her  husband 
being  at  least  twenty  years  her  junior.  He  was 
her  stalwart  leading  man  in  "Captain  Brassbound's 
Conversion,"  one  of  the  last  plays  in  which  she 
appeared  in  this  country. 


SOME     BIG     PLAYERS 

One  cannot  disconnect  her  from  Henry  Irving 
with  whom  she  made  her  early  appearances  here. 
I  saw  her  first  in  "The  Vicar  of  Wakefield"  on  the 
road,  and  later  in  the  '8o's  as  Opheha  and  Portia, 
then  met  her  socially  at  a  reception  in  Boston 
tendered  by  the  College  Club  then  new.  In  her 
screen  picture,  "Her  Greatest  Performance,"  we 
get  a  ghmpse  of  her  daughter  Edith  Craig,  both  of 
them  poorly  photographed,  the  picture  made  in 
England.  Ellen  Terry  has  this  to  say:  "We  hear 
too  much  about  the  reforms  of  the  theatre  and  too 
little  about  the  reform  of  the  audience."  This  was 
at  a  meeting  of  the  British  Drama  League  in  London, 
when  she  also  declared  that  audiences  got  Just  what 
they  seemed  to  ask  for.  Her  remarks  were  addressed 
to  those  present  who  aimed  to  uplift  the  stage. 

Rose  Coghlan 

Placed  at  a  pinnacle  is  Rose  Coghlan,  happily 
alert  and  alive  to  grace  the  stage  of  today.  Few 
actresses  have  been  endowed  with  so  much  native 
ability,  and  not  one  has  given  us  a  better  Lady 
Teazle.  Safe  to  say,  I  have  never  seen  a  Peg  Wof- 
fington  to  compare  with  hers.  Her  life  story  is  going 
out   from   her   own   pen.     In   this   she   pays   loyal 

C393 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

tribute  to  her  brother  Charles  Coghlan,  leading  man 
par  excellence,  in  his  generation.  In  an  interview- 
she  used  these  words  concerning  the  most  tragic 
moment  in  her  Hfe:  "I  loved  my  brother  Charles 
better  than  anyone  in  the  world.  Ever  since  I 
w^as  a  child  he  has  been  my  hero,  and  the  fact  that 
I  was  Charles  CogIilan*s  sister  meant  more  to  me 
than  all  my  own  success.  I  think  anyone  who  knew 
him  well  would  understand  why  I  loved  him,  and 
looked  up  to  him  so.  He  started  me  in  my  work 
and  his  love  and  help  never  failed  me." 

At  fifteen  she  made  her  debut  in  her  native  land, 
and  came  to  America  from  Peterborough,  England, 
in  '71,  to  enjoy  a  long  and  creditable  career.  I 
first  saw  her  in  support  of  the  elder  Sothern  whose 
Lord  Dundreary  is  such  a  pleasure  to  recall,  later 
in  "The  Happy  Pair"  at  Wallacks  where  she  held 
the  boards  as  leading  lady  in  repertoire  back  in  the 
'8o's.  Later  I  saw  her  in  "School  for  Scandal," 
and  again  in  191 5,  wearing  the  same  gown  as  in  '83. 
This  was  a  memorable  night  in  the  history  of  New 
York  theatres,  and  was  the  last  for  dear  old  Wal- 
lacks, which  was  demolished  soon  after.  She  gave 
the  tag,  her  still  glorious  voice  shaken  with  emo- 
tion while  the  house  rose  and  threw  flowers  at 
her.     She    never    looked    more    radiantly    beauti- 

n4oI] 


-Y'-i^  52^ 


>' 


SOME      BIG      PLAYERS 

ful,    and    the    picture    in    this   book  was  taken  at 
the   time. 

Happening  to  be  in  Boston  with  an  all  star  cast 
in  "Trilby"  which  included  Robert  Paton  Gibbs 
who  created  the  role  of  Gecko,  she  celebrated 
quietly  her  golden  jubilee  on  the  stage.  To  the 
shame  of  playgoers  and  public,  little  notice  was 
taken  of  it,  while  New  York  rebelled  at  not  being 
the  place  to  make  this  an  historical  event  for  the 
stage.  She  still  possesses  the  grace,  presence  and 
charm  of  manner  of  yore.  Rose  Coghlan  has  made 
one  or  two  pictures,  notably  "The  Sporting  Duchess," 
and  appears  now  and  then,  recently  in  vaudeville 
with  a  picked  company  doing  an  act  from  *'  Forget- 
me-not,"  playing  Stephanie  as  she  had  done  many 
years,  rivalling  Genevieve  Ward  in  this  her  star 
play. 

Mary  Shaw 

To  know  Mary  Shaw  before  and  behind  the  foot- 
lights is  one  of  the  treats  of  my  life,  as  regards  the 
stage,  for  she  is  the  embodiment  of  all  that  tends  to 
make  her  profession  more  than  worth  while,  and 
few  have  attained  her  distinction,  as  an  actress  of 
many  parts.  She  was  a  pioneer  in  placing  before 
us  the  so-called  problem  plays  of  Ibsen,  Shaw  and 

n4i3 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

the  like,  and  together  with  Arnold  Daly  was  roundly- 
abused  by  press  and  pubHc,  particularly  when  pre- 
senting *'Mrs.  Warren's  Profession"  in  '05.  Well, 
Mary  Shaw  and  all  of  us  have  hved  to  see  such 
offerings,  and  far  more  suggestive  ones,  thrust  upon 
both  stage  and  screen.  Take  the  Brieux  play 
"Damaged  Goods"  for  instance,  a  play  condemned 
by  officials  in  Boston,  for  one  city,  but  put  on  the 
screen  in  '19  with  the  same  company  headed  by 
Richard  Bennett,  at  a  large  theatre  at  regular 
prices  and  lauded  to  the  skies.  So  much  for  the 
evolution  in  sentiment  and  education.  Truly  times 
have  changed!  The  World  War  opened  our  eyes, 
too! 

Mary  Shaw  hails  from  Boston,  her  stage  training 
taking  place  when  an  actor  was  one  in  more  than 
name,  and  when  hard  work  was  its  own  reward. 
She  gradually  developed  into  a  player  of  brilhant 
attainments  and  intellectual  power  —  better  still 
she  is  active  and  giving  continued  delight  with  her 
talents.  In  1900  she  attended  the  Congress  of 
Women  in  London,  the  only  delegate  to  represent 
the  American  stage.  Madge  Kendal  presided,  Ellen 
Terry  and  others  spoke  —  all  from  notes,  but  our 
representative  used  none,  being  an  expert  in  ex- 
temporaneous   speaking.     She    called    attention    to 

C42;] 


SOME      BIG     PLAYERS 

the  fact  that  the  first  woman  to  enter  the  ranks  of 
professionals  was  an  actress.  In  London  she  was 
a  guest  of  Sir  Henry  Irving  and  other  distinguished 
persons  and  was  presented  at  the  Court  of  Queen 
Victoria.  It  is  not  generally  known  that  Mary 
Shaw  is  legally  a  Duchess,  for  she  is  none  other  than 
the  widow  of  Duke  de  Brissac  of  France.  When 
interviewed  there,  she  exclaimed  "Fudge!  there  are 
no  more  titles  in  France  —  it  is  a  Republic,  you 
know."  She  is  actively  interested  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  National  Theatre  for  women,  and  is 
strongly  supported  by  eminent  persons  of  both 
sexes.  She  resides  in  New  York  City,  is  one  of  the 
early  incorporators  of  The  Professional  Women's 
League,  and  is  founder  of  the  Gamut  Club  for  women. 
While  in  California  playing  an  engagement  some 
years  ago,  she  was  made  honorary  member  of  the 
Gamut  Club  of  San  Francisco,  a  male  organization, 
and  there  conceived  the  idea  of  one  for  her  own 
sister  v/orkers  on  the  stage. 


n43  3 


VI 

MARY  ANDERSON  AND  OTHERS 

OUR  MARY"  was  the  first  player  to  be  the 
victim  of  my  pen,  just  before  her  last 
appearance  on  our  stage,  as  an  actress 
of  many  parts,  exactly  suited  to  her  personahty. 
I  had  seen  her  in  all  her  plays  from  the  time  of  her 
debut,  but  this  occasion  brought  me  in  closer  range. 
It  was  in  "The  Winter's  Tale"  at  the  Holhs  Street 
theatre  in  '89  when  she  essayed  the  dual  role  of 
Hermione  and  Perdita.  Then  followed  her  illness, 
which  took  her  from  us  as  a  star  in  the  height  of  her 
career.  A  native  of  Cahfornia,  reared  in  old  Ken- 
tucky, daughter  of  a  soldier,  she  early  attracted 
attention,  and  from  none  other  than  Charlotte 
Cushman,  who  told  her  that  she  possessed  three 
requisites  for  the  stage  —  voice,  personality  and 
gesture.  So  Mary  Anderson  studied  with  this 
great  woman  and  pohshed  off  under  her  guidance. 
Here  and  abroad  she  won  personal  and  artistic 
success,  was  ever  a  picture  to  fill  the  eye,  as  well 
C443 


\ 


MARY  ANDERSON  AND  OTHERS 

as  a  credit  to  her  native  land.  In  '89  she  married 
Antonio  Navarro  and  settled  down  to  domesticity, 
retiring  from  our  Broadway  to  old  Broadway,  a 
charming  place  in  Worcestershire,  England.  Mary 
Anderson  gave  no  "farewells'*  but  retired  grace- 
fully, when  she  meant  to,  and  has  steadfastly  de- 
clined tempting  offers  to  return  for  "just  one  more 
American  tour."  She  goes  out  once  in  awhile  for 
charity  or  some  notable  benefit  to  sing,  or  do  a  small 
part,  and  there's  a  reason  for  her  decision.  She  is 
supremely  happy  in  that  ideal  home  of  hers  over 
there.  It  was  my  privilege  to  meet  her  by  chance 
at  Stratford-on-Avon  and  in  Anne  Hathaway's 
garden  where  she  was  dodging  tourists,  who  swarmed 
there  that  day.  A  pleasant  acquaintance  was  re- 
newed which  led  to  a  call  at  her  home  not  far  away. 
The  picture  of  the  former  queen  of  the  stage  in  her 
then  stately  dignity  was  surpassed  by  this  newer 
one,  surrounded  as  she  was  by  her  children,  their 
toys,  and  dogs,  all  in  such  a  perfect  setting.  The 
house  is  a  rambling  one,  of  stone,  picturesquely 
located,  yet  quite  apart  from  the  main  thorough- 
fare. It  was  discovered  by  artists  long  ago,  and 
still  retains  its  original  beauty  and  architecture. 
In  '12  Mary  Anderson  returned  to  America  for  a 
fortnight  to  witness  the  production  of  "The  Garden 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

of  Allah"  by  Robert  Hichens  with  whom  she  col- 
laborated. She  first  saw  the  possibilities  for  a  strong 
play,  and  persuaded  the  author  to  adapt  it.  For 
five  seasons  it  had  a  run  and  is  still  a  drawing  card 
for  any  producer. 

"A  Few  Memories"  from  her  pen  in  '96  is  a  valu- 
able book,  containing  a  comprehensive  narrative  of 
the  stage  as  she  found  it.  It  was  written  at  odd 
moments,  and  dedicated  to  her  husband,  and  no 
wonder,  for  he  has  given  her  a  home  hard  to  surpass, 
and  quite  in  contrast  to  the  stuffy  dressing  room 
where  we  first  met.  **Our  Mary"  she  will  always 
be  called  until  the  final  curtain. 

Sothern  and  Marlowe 

One  of  the  happy  surprises  of  the  season  of  '19 
was  the  return  to  the  stage  of  that  well  equipped 
pair,  Julia  Marlowe  and  Edward  H.  Sothern,  son 
of  the  only  Lord  Dundreary  in  memory's  halL 
He  wrote  a  chatty  article  not  long  ago  headed 
**My  Remembrances"  in  which  he  tells  of  his  early 
start,  and  he  departs  from  the  average  writer  in 
decrying  his  own  work.  He  tells  of  his  first  play 
"Out  of  the  Hunt"  and  mentions  some  members 
in    the    cast  —  Richard    Mansfield    for    one    (then 

1:46] 


E.  II.  SOTHERN  AND  JULIA  MARLOWE 

in   "Ronu-o   and  Juliet" 


MARY  ANDERSON  AND  OTHERS 

twenty-four)  also  Joseph  Haworth,  who  became  a 
popular  favorite  and  died  years  too  soon.  In 
humorous  vein  he  writes  of  his  alleged  shortcomings, 
later  failures,  and  of  his  attempt  to  write  a  play 
called  "Whose  are  They,"  and  of  his  efforts  to  pro- 
duce it.  He  quotes  a  London  critic  who  said  "Talent 
is  seldom  hereditary;  a  lamentable  instance  of  this 
is  to  be  seen  at  the  Royalty  where  Sothern  appears." 
However  this  did  not  disturb  so  much  as  more 
material  things.  He  came  to  America  when  quite 
young,  and  we  all  know  where  he  stands  today. 
I  saw  him  first  in  "One  of  Our  Girls"  with  Helen 
Dauvray  at  the  Park  theatre  October  4,  '86. 

He  was  devoted  to  the  late  Charles  Frohman  and 
took  his  death  keenly.  Sothern  was  one  ot  the 
last  to  receive  a  letter  from  him,  in  which  he  spoke 
of  sailing  and  urged  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sothern  to  ac- 
company him.  The  letter  closes  thus.  "So  far  as 
I  am  concerned,  when  you  consider  the  stars  I  have 
managed,  a  mere  submarine  makes  laugh."  Mean- 
time a  letter  from  London  reached  Julia  Marlowe 
begging  her  not  to  sail  as  the  Germans  had  already 
tried  to  torpedo  the  Lusitania  at  her  Liverpool 
dock.  Frohman  knew  of  this  warning,  yet  went, 
and  his  last  words  are  historic.  "Why  fear  death? 
it  is  the  most  beautiful  adventure  in  life." 

C473 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

In  the  "Life  of  Charles  Frohman"  pubhshed  in 
"16  one  finds  much  to  ponder  on.  We  are  indebted 
to  him  for  developing  players  hke  Maud  Adams  and 
her  like,  still  with  us.  Juha  Marlowe  has  ever  been 
a  star;  born  in  England,  educated  here,  and  made 
her  first  appearance  in  a  Juvenile  Opera  Company 
in  '82.  It  was  in  '97  I  first  saw  her,  and  as  JuHet 
—  a  notable  performance  which  won  favor  at  the 
outset,  and  now  we  have  her  again  in  all  her  ripened 
beauty. 

The  Barrymores 

Maurice  Barrymore  and  his  gifted  wife,  Georgie 
Drew,  left  a  rich  inheritance  for  their  children 
Ethel,  Lionel  and  John,  happily  before  us  with  ever 
increasing  art,  a  credit  to  stage  and  screen.  No 
better  plays  were  given  the  public  during  the  past 
two  seasons  than  ** Peter  Ibbetson,"  **The  Copper- 
head," "The  Jest"  and  —  for  Ethel  —  "Declasse"  — 
all  unique  in  their  line,  the  last  named  play  now  being 
on  the  screen  with  Miss  Barrymore. 

When  very  young  they  began  to  do  stunts,  even 
essaying  "Camille"  at  a  barn  show  —  admission 
two  cents.  Since  their  amateur  days  they  have 
touched  comedy,  tragedy,  and  the  poetic  drama 
with  never  a  backward  step.     They  have  essayed 

1:483 


unZZ^^  aA^.,^MiAS:c^-^£i 


JULIA  ARTHUR 


MARY  ANDERSON  AND  OTHERS 

and  created  roles  in  plays  by  Ibsen,  Tolstoi,  Gals- 
worthy and  their  like  —  to  say  nothing  of  Shake- 
speare. Probably  no  family  in  America  is  so  in- 
timately connected  with  the  stage  as  the  Drew- 
Barrymores.  There  is  John  Drew,  his  daughter 
Louise,  his  niece  Georgie  Drew  Mendum  and  the 
Barrymore  trio.  Mrs.  John  Drew,  the  elder,  of 
blessed  memory,  lived  to  a  ripe  old  age.  I  have 
seen  them  all  in  various  plays  and  joyously  recall 
Daly's  company  with  the  lamented  Ada  Rehan, 
Mrs.  Gilbert  and  John  Drew,  who  is  the  sole  sur- 
vivor of  that  imperishable  company.  The  Barry- 
mores  have  contributed  notably  to  the  screen  —  of 
which  more  anon  —  and  are  rightly  called  "Broad- 
way's Royal  Family." 

Julia  Arthur 

Our  neighbor  Canada  has  reason  to  feel  proud  of 
Julia  Arthur  whose  distinctly  high  class  work  on 
the  stage  has  ever  been  a  delight  for  the  playgoer, 
and  a  credit  to  any  country  claiming  her.  My 
first  glimpse  of  her  was  in  "A  Lady  of  Quality" 
more  than  twenty  years  ago,  and  my  last  was  in 
"Seremonda"  in  'i6,  in  which  she  did  not  look  one 
day  older,  was  even  more  beautiful  in  her  ripened 

n493 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

womanhood,  and  such  a  treat  to  the  eye  and  ear! 
This  brought  Juha  Arthur  back  to  the  stage  in  the 
type  of  play  associated  with  her  greatest  fame  as  an 
actress,  the  good  old  style  of  drama  that  told  of  the 
days  "when  knights  were  bold  and  hearts  never 
cold."  The  stage  had  not  seen  such  plays  since 
her  retirement  on  her  marriage  to  a  Boston  business 
man,  and  it  welcomed  her  with  fervor.  Who  but 
Juha  Arthur,  with  her  selected  company,  perfectly 
balanced,  could  give  a  pubhc  of  today  such  a  feast 
and  in  blank  verse,  too!  Presumably  the  author, 
Mr.  Wilham  Lindsey,  had  her  in  mind  for  the  crea- 
tion of  the  title  role. 

"The  Eternal  Madgalene,"  however,  was  the  play 
actually  celebrating  her  return  to  the  foothghts, 
but  this  we  did  not  see.  While  Juha  Arthur  comes 
of  Welsh  and  Irish  stock  and  was  born  in  Ontario, 
her  dramatic  experiences  have  been  acquired  on  the 
boards  of  American  playhouses.  She  is  perhaps  the 
best  beloved  woman  on  the  stage  today,  intelhgent 
in  a  high  degree,  sympathetic,  tolerant  and  helpful 
to  others.  Some  of  her  views  on  success  are:  "It  is 
not  so  much  what  you  gain  for  yourself,  but  what 
you  accomphsh  for  others;  the  man  or  woman  who 
thinks  only  of  personal  glory  cannot  give  the  best 
that  is  in  them,  as  their  efforts  are  hmited."    Again 

n5o3 


MARY  ANDERSON  AND  OTHERS 

she  says:  "With  me,  acting  is  forgetting  myself.  I 
have  never  been  self-centred  or  tried  to  develop  a 
pose  or  affectation.  My  pohcy  has  been  to  do  things 
because  I  loved  to  do  them,  and  to  avoid  high 
tension.     That  is  why  I  enjoy  my  profession." 

Readers  know  well  the  parts  she  has  played  in 
Shakespearian  productions,  in  support  of  such 
players  as  Terry  and  Irving,  and  in  the  romantic 
drama,  in  repertoire  under  A.  M.  Palmer,  also  that 
she  created  several  roles  as  in  "Lady  Windermere's 
Fan,"  "More  than  Queen,"  "Lady  of  Quality," 
.  in  which  she  was  selected  by  the  author  of  the  book, 
Mrs.  Frances  Hodgson  Burnett,  for  the  heroine, 
a  character  which  gave  full  scope  to  her  talents. 
In  Bernhardt,  JuHa  Arthur  found  her  model  and 
inspiration.  "Her  art,"  she  declares,  "is  superb,  it 
is  rehable,  it  is  exact,  yet  she  manages  to  give  the 
impression  of  impetuous  passion."  Juha  Arthur 
is  one  of  the  big  players  to  adorn  the  screen  first  in 
pictures  for  the  Government  as  a  volunteer,  then 
as  the  martyr  nurse  Edith  Cavell  —  a  five  reel 
picture  already  seen  by  milhons  —  and  in  Canada, 
where  she  made  a  personal  appearance  in  connec- 
tion and  on  her  native  heath.  It  is  hoped  that 
some  enterprising  producer  will  give  us  "Sere- 
monda,"  that  her  work  in  this  classic  may  be  im- 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

mortalized.  She  is  one  of  the  most  approachable 
women,  entirely  unspoiled  by  adulation,  and  capable 
for  many  years  to  come,  to  delight  us  and  give 
dignity  to  the  stage  and  screen. 

Nance  O'Neil 

Nance  O'Neil  possesses  all  the  ingredients  of  a 

tragedienne,   yet   runs   the   gamut   of  emotion,   as 

few  have  done  "in  her  day  and  generation."     She 

led  somewhat  of  a  wandering  career  until  she  drifted 

into  the  hands  of  Belasco  who  put  her  forth  in  "The 

Lily,"  the  play  which  had  a  long  run,  and  in  which 

she  concealed  her  beauty  for  art's  sake.     Her  recent 

work  in  "The  Passion  Flower"  proves  her  worth, 

and  claim  to  being  one  of  our  strongest  players. 

It  was  Agnes  Booth  who  a  few  years  ago  recognized 

her  ability,  and  so  she  took  a  personal  interest  and 

transferred. her  to  the  Tremont  theatre  then  managed 

by  John  B.  Schoeffel,  and  thus  estabhshed  a  huge 

following. 

Viola  Allen 

C.  Leslie  Allen,  who  died  in  '17  after  a  notable 
career  as  character  actor  in  the  old  Boston  theatre 
stock,  had  much  to  do  with  the  training  of  his 
daughter  Viola,  who  seems  to  have  retired  since 
her  marriage  to  Peter  Duryea.     She  created  several 


MARY  ANDERSON  AND   OTHERS 

parts,   and   played   leads   before   20.     Later   in   '05 

we  saw  her  in  **The  Winter's  Tale"  playing  Her- 

mione  and   Perdita,   the  latter  exceptionally  well. 

She  was   supported    by  her  father  and  by  Henry 

Jewett,   who  played  King  Leonites.     "The  White 

Sister"  was  her  long  suit  although  many  preferred 

her  work  in  "The  Christian."     We  last  saw  her  in 

"A  Daughter  of  Heaven"  in  New  York.     She  had 

a  brief  try  at  the  screen,  doing  "The  White  Sister" 

but  was  not  over  successful.     There  are  others  who 

have   failed   lamentably   before   the   camera,    while 

doing  effective  work  on  the  speaking  stage  —  and 

vice  versa. 

Margaret  Anglin 

Canada  also  gave  "The  States"  Margaret  Anglin 
and  as  in  the  case  of  Maude  Adams  she  fell  under 
the  spell  and  guidance  of  Charles  Frohman.  It 
chanced  that  he  saw  her  in  a  performance  at  the 
Empire  Theatre  School  of  Acting,  became  impressed 
with  her  work,  and  at  once  cast  her  in  "Shenandoah." 
There*s  a  start  for  you!  Then  she  went  with 
James  O'Neill,  E.  H.  Sothern,  Richard  Mansfield, 
and  so  on,  all  the  time  gaining  in  achievement  and 
popularity.  The  public,  especially  the  feminine 
portion,  liked  her  best  in  such  plays  as  "The  Awak- 
ening of  Helena  Richie"  a  splendid  adaptation  of 

C533 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

Margaret    Deland's    book,    and    in    "Green    Stock- 
ings," but  it  was  in  "Mrs.  Dane's  Defense"   that 
she  displayed  the  emotional  abihty  called  for,  and 
so  she  has  continued  in  that  form  of  play.     A  famous 
New    York    critic    likened    Miss    Anghn's    Camille 
second  only  to  that  of  Bernhardt.     It  was  not  our 
good  fortune  to  see  her  in  this,  but  I  fancy  the  critic 
was  right  in  his  opinion.     In  passing,  it  is  of  interest 
to  know  that  two  of  the  plays  mentioned  have  been 
successfully  screened,   the  first  named  with   Ethel 
Barrymore,  one  of  the  best  things  she   has  done 
thus  far  before  the  camera.     "Mrs.  Dane's  Defense'* 
was  portrayed  by  Pauhne  Frederick,  but  not  so  satis- 
factory in  some  detail  as  the  other.     Frank  Losee 
that  sterhng  stage  and  screen  actor  was  in  support 
of  Miss  Frederick.    Rumor  for  some  time  has  had  it 
that  Margaret  Anghn  is  to  enter  the  screen  field  as 
producer  as  well  as  player,  that  she  had  purchased 
a  site  and  would  produce  such  classics  as  "Medea," 
presented  at  the  Greek  Theatre  in  Berkeley,  Cafi- 
fornia.     Surely  the  work  of  this  gifted  woman  is 
more  than  worth  while  and  should  be  seen  by  a 
larger   following  than    now.     Parts   to   recall   with 
unbounded  pleasure    are   Roxane    in    "Cyrano   de 
Bergerac "    with    Mansfield    and    "  Zira "    (the    re- 
christened  New  Magdalen)  with  Frank  Worthing. 


MARY  ANDERSON  AND  OTHERS 

Maude  Adams 

Who  will  ever  forget  "Peter  Pan"  and  Maude 
Adams'  interpretation  of  this  elfish  character,  or  her 
fine  work  in  "The  Little  Minister'*  which  gave  such 
joy  to  the  author,  Sir  James  Barrie,  who,  they  say, 
is  writing  a  play  especially  fitted  to  her  talents. 
In  Rostand's  "Chanticleer"  she  did  not  meet  with 
the  hoped  for  success,  and  this  had  an  effect  on  her, 
hard  to  overcome.  As  she  is  the  very  essence  of 
femininity  the  part  of  a  rooster  did  not  seem  to 
fit  —  in  fact  it  jarred  on  us  all.  With  recovering 
health  the  public  hopes  again  to  show  its  apprecia- 
tion of  her  unusual  gifts.  Mr.  William  Seymour 
tells  me  that  Maude  Adams  played  the  child 
Adrienne  in  "A  Celebrated  Case"  in  San  Francisco 
in  '78  with  Forrest  Robinson,  F.  F.  Mackey,  Lewis 
Morrison,  James  O'Neill,  Rose  Wood  and  others, 
as  proven  by  a  program  before  me,  so  she  began 
quite  young. 


[55:1 


VII 

BIG  MOMENTS 

THERE  are  vivid  recollections  of  many  thea- 
tres, here  and  there,  away  from  our  home 
city,  both  in  this  country  and  abroad  where 
we  sat  at  the  feet  of  the  truly  great.  Happening  in 
Paris  in  the  early  '90's  it  was  an  unusual  privilege 
to  see  Sarah  Bernhardt  for  the  first  time,  and  as 
Camille.  To  my  mind  she  is  the  wonder  of  the  age 
—  think  of  it,  appearing  quite  recently  with  much 
of  the  vigor  of  yore  at  nearly  four  score,  to  say 
nothing  of  being  a  cripple.  In  addition  to  being 
en  tour  in  '19  she  completed  a  bust  of  Rostand  as 
a  labor  of  love  for  the  French  Academy.  Volumes 
have  been  written  of  her  art  and  versatility  as 
actress  and  sculptor.  The  screen  too  has  been 
fortunate  in  commanding  her  talents,  so  that  her 
work  may  be  perpetuated  in  pantomime  at  least. 
It  is  regrettable  that  she  has  not  been  filmed  in 
this  country,  that  better  results  might  have  been 
attained.     However  we  have  one  remarkably  good 

1:56: 


BIG      MOMENTS 

picture,  in  "Mothers  of  France,"  taken  too  in  that 
country,  one  scene  actually  done  under  fire  during 
the  war  and  another  in  front  of  the  Rheims  Ca- 
thedral showing  the  statue  of  Joan  of  Arc  as  she  still 
appears  in  bronze,  and  unhurt  by  German  guns. 

Some  performances  come  readily  to  mind  like 
"The  Shaughran"  with  the  only  Boucicault;  "Rip 
Van  Winkle'*  with  dear  Joe  Jefferson  and  now 
done  well  by  one  of  his  sons;  "The  Scarlet  Let- 
ter" with  Richard  Mansfield;  "The  Middleman" 
played  by  that  finished  actor  E.  S.  Willard,  sup- 
ported by  one  of  our  own  actresses,  Marie  Bur- 
roughs, a  beauty  and  finished  player.  A  marked 
feature  of  Willard's  work  stands  out,  and  may  well 
be  emulated  for  art's  sake.  He  refused  to  take  a 
curtain  call  for  himself,  but  kept  well  within  the 
character,  never  facing  the  house.  The  spectacle  of 
Hamlets  and  Juliets  suddenly  coming  to  life,  bowing 
and  scraping  to  the  claque  in  front,  detracts  from 
the  effect  of  the  play  itself,  according  to  this  gifted 
actor,  and  it  is  a  pity  there  are  not  more  of  his  like. 
Then  Mrs.  Drew's  Mrs.  Malaprop  in  "The  Rivals"; 
Janauschek  in  all  she  did;  young  Salvini's  "Three 
Guardsmen,"  John  McCulIough's  "Virginius";  "Jim 
the  Penman"  with  Agnes  Booth;  the  Kendals  in 
"A  Scrap  of  Paper,"   and  now  in  our  recent  day 

1:573 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

*The  Lily"  for  Nance  O'Neil  under  Belasco;  "Kis- 
met" with  Otis  Skinner;  "Peter  Ibbetson"  for  the 
Barry  more  brothers;  and  "Lincoln"  by  that  young 
Englishman,  John  Drinkwater. 

Not  to  be  forgotten  is  James  A.  Heme  in  "Shore 
Acres."  He  was  a  man  worth  knowing  and  he  was 
greatly  aided  by  his  equally  gifted  wife  now  living. 
All  theatre  goers  of  the  last  generation  will  recall 
"Margaret  Fleming,"  put  on  in  old  Chickering 
Hall,  Boston,  May  4,  '91.  It  was  not  a  perfect  play, 
but  it  had  Ibsen-hke  quahties,  was  dramatic,  with 
touches  of  comedy  and  pathos,  played  with  mar- 
vellous skill.  It  excited  a  bit  of  a  sensation  in  one 
spot  when  Margaret  Fleming  became  a  wet  nurse 
for  an  illegitimate  child.  There  are  two  daughters. 
Crystal  and  Julie,  both  on  our  stage,  inheriting 
dramatic  gifts.  It  is  good  to  know  that  this  play 
has  been  transferred  to  the  screen  with  Edward 
Connelly,  an  old  friend  of  the  Hemes,  in  his 
former  part.  The  play  was  given  over  to  Mr. 
Connelly  recently  by  Mrs.  Heme. 

Some  Hamlets 
A  play  to  stand  out  as  seen  rather  oftener  than 
any  other  is  Hamlet  and  what  a  long  list,  leaving 
out  the  amateurs!     Edwin  Booth  happened  to  be 


JOHN    CRAIG 
As   Hamlet 


BIG     MOMENTS 

the  first  to  see,  at  the  Boston  Museum;  then  came 
Charles  Fechter  at  the  Globe  theatre,  Boston,  in 
'70,  when  Charlotte  LeCIerq  played  Ophelia!  Since 
then,  I  have  seen  Wilson  Barrett,  that  virile  actor 
from  England;  James  E.  Murdock;  E.  H.  Sothern; 
Sir  John  Forbes-Robertson,  who  came  the  nearest 
to  Booth  in  my  opinion  up  to  that  time.  John 
Craig  gave  an  admirable  performance  at  his  theatre, 
the  then  Castle  Square,  and  now  Walter  Hampden  is 
credited  with  much  glory  in  his  interpretation. 

It  was  quite  by  chance  that  I  happened  in  New 
York  City  en  route  to  California  in  '88  when  the 
notable  benefit  was  tendered  Lester  Wallack, 
which  can  never  be  duplicated  —  certainly  not  as 
to  personnel  of  the  participants.  The  play  was 
"Hamlet"  with  Edwin  Booth  in  the  title  role, 
Modjeska  as  Ophelia;  Frank  Mayo  and  Gertrude 
Kellogg  as  the  king  and  queen;  Eben  Plympton  as 
Laertes;  Lawrence  Barrett  as  the  ghost;  John 
Gilbert  as  Polonius;  Rose  Coghlan  as  the  player 
queen;  Joseph  Whcclock  as  the  first  actor;  Joe 
Jefferson  and  William  J.  Florence  as  the  gravediggers. 
Wallack  when  called  out  was  visibly  affected,  yet 
every  word  was  distinctly  heard  by  all.  Alas,  the 
final  curtain  fell  for  him  a  few  weeks  later. 

1:593 


VIII 

VETERANS 

TAKE  F.  F.  Mackey,  for  example,  as  a  veteran 
of  the  stage.  Though  no  longer  playing, 
he  is  interested  and  active  along  many 
lines,  and  a  fine  example  of  well  preserved  vigor 
with  sixty  years  to  his  credit  on  the  stage.  He 
once  said  "The  two  most  potent  factors  today  are 
the  pulpit  and  the  stage."  Surely  as  a  Christian 
gentleman  and  a  finished  player  he  ought  to  be  a 
good  judge.  For  more  than  thirty  years,  he  has 
given  unpaid  service  to  the  Actors  Fund  of  America, 
and  at  last  accounts  was  still  active  as  president 
and  director  of  the  National  Conservatory  of  Dra- 
matic Art,  Elocution  and  Oratory.  He  attends  the 
meetings  of  his  clubs,  like  the  Green  Room  and 
Players,  and  is  keenly  alert  to  all  that  goes  on. 
His  two  sons  Edward  and  Charles  hold  up  the 
family  good  name,  and  both  are  competent  players. 
Dear  old  Mrs.  Whiff  en  was  last  seen  in  a  screen 
play,  "Barbara  Frietchie,"  with  Mary  Miles  Minter, 

ceo] 


MRS.   THOMAS   Willi  FEN 


VETERANS 

they  being  at  the  time  the  oldest  and  youngest  to 
shine  in  filmdom.  Her  career  with  both  Frohmans 
will  be  recalled  in  such  plays  as  "Hazel  Kirke" 
"The  Charity  Ball,"  and  "The  Amazons,"  in  which 
I  have  seen  her,  also  in  support  of  Henry  Miller, 
Margaret  Mannering,  Margaret  Anglin  and  others. 
Though  educated  for  the  opera  she  preferred  the 
stage  and  first  appeared  as  a  fairy  in  "Turco  the 
Terrible"  in  the  '6o's.  Her  son  Thomas  Whiffen 
inherits  her  ability  along  lighter  lines  and  has  been 
in  Broadway  successes  such  as  "Three  Twins" 
with  Bessie  McCoy-Davis. 

When  very  young  it  was  my  privilege  to  see 
Genevieve  Ward  in  "Forget-me-not"  and  no  other, 
save  Rose  Coghlan,  has  done  the  part  so  well.  She 
played  Stephanie  more  than  3000  times,  is  now 
past  four  score,  and  in  private  life  is  the  Countess 
de  Guerbel.  She  first  appeared  in  musical  plays 
like  "La  Traviata"  in  '62.  She  has  written  an  in- 
teresting book  on  her  career. 

Frank  Bacon  now  considered  the  foremost  char- 
acter actor  on  both  stage  and  screen  and,  linked 
with  his  successful  play  "Lightnin'"  which  broke 
the  season*s  record  in  New  York  City,  is  entitled  to 
special  mention.  Then  I  must  not  forget  Mary 
Davis  who  at  80  played  in  "Old  Lady  31,"  her 

1:613 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

voice  reaching  to  every  part  of  the  theatre.  Charles 
Kent  is  another  surviving  member  of  the  Boston 
Museum,  who  retired  from  the  speaking  stage  ten 
or  more  years  ago  for  the  screen.  He  excels  in 
parts  calling  for  dignity,  as  Southern  Colonels  and 
the  like.  Eugenie  Blair  and  Minna  Gale  Haines, 
though  not  lining  up  as  veterans,  are  growing 
older  gracefully  and  still  dependable.  They  sup- 
ported Mary  Young  Craig  in  her  best  play  "The 
Outrageous  Mrs.  Palmer"  which  went  from  the 
Arlington  theatre  to  Broadway. 

Rachel  Noah  (Mrs.  Shirley  France)  is  approach- 
ing four  score,  yet  busy  teaching  dramatic  art  in 
Boston.  She  was  a  member  of  the  old  Boston 
theatre  stock  company  in  the  days  of  "Michael 
Strogoff"  and  has  supported  Charlotte  Cushman, 
Booth,  Barrett  and  such  players.  Maude  Granger, 
beautiful  as  ever,  is  still  playing.  She  created  a 
part  in  last  season's  play  "Polly anna"  and  she  radi- 
ates harmony.  It  is  this  actress  who  discovered 
Ada  Rehan,  took  her  to  Daly,  who  cast  her  for 
the  hag,  in  "La  Noir."  Readers  know  to  what  that 
led  toward  immortalizing  the  name  of  Daly's  stock 
company. 

George  Wilson,  one  of  the  best  character  actors 
of  the  Museum  days,   is   frequently   met.     During 

1:623 


CHRISTINE  NILSSEN 


RACHEL  NOAH 


MAUD  grangp:r 


VETERANS 

the  World  War  he  gave  all  his  costumes  to  the 
theatre  at  Camp  Devens.  The  last  time  I  saw 
him  on  the  stage  was  in  "Capt.  Harrington,"  Victor 
Mapes'  play,  which  had  quite  a  run  in  Boston 
in  '03  with  a  fine  cast,  including  Joseph  Kilgour 
who  played  George  Washington,  and  Charles  Rich- 
man  who  doubled  in  the  title  role  and  one  other. 

Ada  Oilman,  one  of  only  a  few  of  the  Museum 
company  of  the  late  '6o's,  is  alive,  and  content  to 
retire  after  fifty  years  of  the  footlights.  She  was 
privileged  to  support  Charlotte  Cushman,  Booth, 
Wallack  and  their  like.  She  played  Rosa  Leigh  in 
"Rosedale"  when  Lawrence  Barrett  was  Eliot 
Grey,  and  made  a  hit  in  **The  Ticket  of  Leave 
Man"  at  the  Globe  theatre.  In  the  cast  were 
Mrs.  W.  J.  Florence,  F.  F.  Mackey,  John  T.  Ray- 
mond, Mrs.  Thomas  Barry,  and  W.  E.  Sheridan. 
Her  first  appearance  was  made  at  19  in  "Sweet- 
heart and  Wives"  in  '68,  with  the  Museum  com- 
pany in  the  days  of  Vincent  and  Warren.  In  recent 
years  she  has  appeared  off  and  on,  and  was  for  a 
time  with  George  Cohan.  Her  last  appearance  in 
Boston  was  in  "The  House  of  Glass,"  at  the  Park 
Square  theatre.  She  is  cheery  as  ever  and  active 
in  doing  good. 

C633 


IX 

STOCK  COMPANIES 

ONE  of  the  best  actors  of  our  day,  George 
Arliss,  thoroughly  approves  of  stock  com- 
panies (if  quoted  correctly)  as  the  best 
sort  of  training  school  to  graduate  players.  He 
predicts  that  the  time  will  come  for  a  demons  '■.ration 
of  this  —  in  fact  it  has  already.  He  further  says 
that  the  day  is  approaching  when  at  least  one  stock 
company  will  prevail  in  every  large  city,  that  it 
will  travel  about  each  year  for  three  months,  and 
return  home  to  keep  up  the  work.  George  Foster 
Piatt  has  done  well  along  this  line,  in  Milwaukee, 
Wisconsin.  John  Craig,  with  his  talented  wife  Mary 
Young,  achieved  more  than  local  prominence  in 
Boston,  with  their  admirable  stock  company  at  the 
former  Castle  Square  theatre,  now  the  Arlington 
to  which  they  returned  in  the  fall  of  '19  in  repertoire 
and  new  plays.  Players  of  national  prominence  owe 
much  to  their  training  in  that  company.  Mr. 
Craig   for   several   seasons  offered  a   money  prize 

1:643 


EDGAR    L.    DAVENPORT 


MARIE    BURRESS 


SYDNEY    BOOTH 


ISABELLE    EVESSON 


STOCK     COMPANIES 

for  new  plays  written  by  Harvard  students  and 
others,  like  "Common  Clay/*  *' Believe  me  Zan- 
tippe,"  "End  of  the  Bridge"  and  their  like. 

Then  we  have  Henry  Jewett,  that  splendidly 
equipped  Enghsh  actor  who  took  hold  of  the  former 
Toy  Theatre,  re-named  it  the  Copley,  organized 
a  company  of  players,  and  established  a  clientele 
like  that  of  the  old  Museum  days.  He,  too,  has 
put  on  new  plays  running  the  gamut  from  Shaw, 
Ibsen  and  the  like  to  lighter  pieces.  Readers  know 
well  of  the  old  Boston  theatre  under  L.  R.  Shewell 
and  what  that  meant  to  the  world  of  theatre  goers. 
Then  the  lamented  Daly's  company,  which  opened 
the  Shakespeare  Memorial  theatre  at  Stratford-on- 
Avon  in  '88.  Alas,  only  John  Drew  remains  of  that 
cast.  In  the  lobby  of  this  theatre  is  a  full  length 
life  size  painting  of  Ada  Rehan,  the  gift  of  Augustin 
Daly.  She  is  pictured  in  her  greatest  part,  Kathe- 
rine  in  "The  Taming  of  the  Shrew."  Before  me 
is  a  large  poster  picturing  that  company  and  pur- 
chased on  the  spot  for  only  a  shilling.  Not  to  be 
overlooked  is  the  Union  Square  with  such  players 
as  Sara  Jewett,  Charles  R.  Thorne,  and  their  like; 
the  Madison  Square  under  A.  M.  Palmer,  with 
Agnes  Booth,  Marie  Burroughs,  E.  M.  Holland, 
May    Robson,    C.    P.    Flockton    and    many    who 

1:653 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

achieved  prominence;  The  Empire,  and  so  on  — 
their  history  having  been  well  written  by  abler 
pens. 

Henry  Jewett  declares  against  the  star  system  in 
his  repertoire  theatre,  for  the  reason  that  too  often 
he  or  she  is  merely  the  result  of  personahty  instead 
of  real  abihty.  For  this  reason,  presumably,  he  has 
acquired  a  group  of  players  of  ability  who  are 
dependable  as  well  as  versatile.  Mr.  Jewett  is  an 
Australian  by  birth  and  his  story  reads  like  fiction. 
He  began  to  read  and  study  Shakespeare  when  a 
lad  and  made  a  record  on  the  stage  before  coming 
to  this  country.  I  first  saw  him  in  "The  Christian" 
as  John  Storm  and  again,  season  after  season.  To 
the  later  playgoer  he  will  be  more  readily  recalled 
for  his  work  as  the  Russian  Duke  in  "The  Man 
from  Home"  with  William  Hodge  for  several  years. 
He  has  supported  Julia  Marlowe,  and  equally  good 
players,  and  was  seen  last  on  the  stage  at  his 
own  theatre  in  "The  Chinese  Puzzle."  His  whole 
time  is  now  devoted  to  the  work  of  manager- 
director.  His  company  is  made  up  of  English 
players  largely,  all  of  experience,  and  they  have 
established  a  personal  as  well  as  artistic  following. 


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X 

THE  SINGERS 

SHARING  in  my  affections  are  the  singing 
players,  beginning  with  the  immortal  Patti, 
who  died  so  recently  at  a  ripe  old  age,  her 
ardor  undimmed.  Many  is  the  time  we  have  paid 
good  money  to  hear  her  so-called  "farewells," 
notably  at  the  Boston  theatre,  and  we  often  had  to 
stand.  This  was  no  easy  task  as  the  floor  began  to 
slope  from  the  rear  walls  to  orchestra,  and  it  was 
necessary  to  improvise  a  prop  (usually  our  outer 
garment)  to  avoid  cramp  or  pitching  forward.  Well 
it  was  worth  it,  for  she  was  not  only  a  great  singer, 
but  good  to  look  at,  with  her  lustrous  brown  eyes 
and  girhsh  figure,  retained  to  the  end.  I  heard 
her  in  all  the  operas  given  in  Boston,  and  oh  my, 
didn't  she  draw  houses,  all  musical  Italy  in  the 
North  End  colony  turning  out  to  fill  the  "nigger 
Heaven"  at  popular  prices.  Her  sister  Carlotta 
made  America  at  least  one  visit,  and  was  the  teacher, 
friend  and  adviser  of  the  late  Teresa  Carreno  who 

1:673 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

also  left  us  in  '19.  Patti  was  only  seven  when  she 
first  appeared,  in  no  less  a  song  than  *'Comin' 
Through  the  Rye,"  receiving,  instead  of  flowers, 
a  big  doll.  The  world  knows  of  her  art  and 
picturesque  triumphs  in  spite  of  her  early  pov- 
erty and  struggles.  At  60  she  made  her  re- 
appearance in  New  York  City  at  a  concert  and 
what  a  house! 

Christine  Nillson  is  alive  and  in  her  beloved 
Sweden,  having  retired  from  the  vocal  stage  many 
years  ago.  She  was  called  "The  Swedish  Nightin- 
gale," tall,  fair,  a  perfect  Marguerite,  needing  almost 
no  make-up,  and  always  wearing  her  own  blonde 
tresses.  "Faust"  was  the  only  opera  I  saw  her  in 
but  I  later  attended  a  concert  in  New  York  City 
at  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House  when  her  voice 
broke.  It  was  her  last  public  appearance  and  the 
utmost  sympathy  was  felt;  even  the  critics  ab- 
stained from  comments  that  reflected,  so  great  was 
the  respect  felt  for  her. 

At  21  she  sang  "Violetta"  in  Paris,  and  had  the 
musical  world  of  the  continent  at  her  feet.  Then 
she  came  to  this  country  —  the  second  song-bird  — 
Jenny  Lind  being  the  first  and  before  my  time  for 
theatre  going.  Like  the  actress  Lotta,  she  dabbled 
in  real  estate  and  until  recently  owned  property 

n683 


MARY    GARDEN 

AN   ORNAMENT   TO   STAGE    AND   SCREEN 


THE     SINGERS 

in  the  business  district  of  Boston.  She  was  twice 
married  and  is  now  the  Countess  Miranda. 

Clara  Louise  Kellogg  was  one  of  our  favorites  and 
how  she  and  BrignoH  brought  down  the  house, 
especially  in  Itahan  opera.  Parepa  Rosa  was  slightly 
known  to  me  through  the  Boston  Peace  Jubilee, 
when  I  sang  in  the  chorus.  "Them  were  the  days." 
To  go  back  a  bit  to  the  close  of  the  first  Jubilee  in 
'69,  I  had  the  courage  to  ask  the  diva  to  fasten  my 
glove,  which  she  did  with  a  big  hug.  Hers  was  a 
personality  worth  while,  and  she  was  the  embodi- 
ment of  good  nature.  Following  the  second  jubilee 
in  '72  there  was  a  ball  given  for  the  chorus,  and 
those  of  us  alive  will  never  forget  dancing  "The 
Blue  Danube"  waltz,  the  band  led  by  the  com- 
poser Strauss  —  some  rhythm !  Then,  the  dance 
was  worth  while,  and  not  a  series  of  evolutions 
such  as  exist  today. 

Another  splendid  all  round  singer  and  musician 
is  Helen  E.  H.  Carter- Wright,  pictured  in  this 
book  as  Serpolette  in  "The  Chimes  of  Normandy." 
She  created  several  roles  in  the  Gilbert  and  Sullivan 
operas,  and  was  in  constant  demand  as  a  concert 
and  oratorio  singer  when  active.  At  13  she  at- 
tracted attention  in  the  quartette  of  the  late  Henry 
Clay  Barnabee,  who  practically  founded  the  Boston 

1:69] 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

Ideal  Opera  Company,  later  the  Bostonians,  the 
fame  of  which  cannot  be  diminished.  Mrs.  Wright, 
then  known  all  over  the  country  as  Helen  Carter, 
was  with  the  late  Carl  Zerrahn,  whose  name  spells 
music.  She  also  had  her  own  company  for  awhile 
and  always  had  a  position  either  in  church  or  con- 
cert work.  Her  daughter,  May  Shepard  Hayward, 
inherits  her  mother's  musical  abihty  and  is  a  suc- 
cessful soloist  and  teacher. 

Of  the  newer  generation  of  course  comes  Geraldine 
Farrar,  Mary  Garden,  Ahce  Neilson  who  was  dis- 
covered by  Barnabee  and  brought  out  by  him,  and 
scores  like  Calve  and  Emma  Juch  come  to  mind  — 
all  in  the  pubhc  eye.  We  must  never  forget  Minnie 
Hauk  now  old,  blind  and  neglected  too  many  years. 
To  the  credit  of  "Gerry"  Farrar,  a  fund  has  been 
raised  to  insure  her  future  comfort. 

Apart  from  the  stars,  who  are  too  numerous  to 
mention,  there  are  excellent  singers  still  in  our  midst 
like  Annie  Louise  Gary,  who  hails  from  Maine,  which 
gave  us  such  wonderful  prima  donnas  as  Nordica 
and  Emma  Fames,  the  latter  happily  with  us. 
Annie  Gary  retired  in  her  very  prime,  much  to  the 
regret  of  world  wide  admirers,  and  her  golden  con- 
tralto voice  has  had  no  counterpart,  unless  we 
except  the  diva  Mme.  Schumann-Heink,  who  has 


HELEN    E.    H.    CARTER-WWGHT 


The    late    MRS.    SOL    SMITH 


THE     SINGERS 

SO  delighted  us.  Annie  Gary  married  Charles  M. 
Raymond,  a  New  York  man,  in  '8i,  and  resides  in 
Connecticut.  Her  Boston  relative,  Flora  Barry,  is 
rounding  out  her  85th  year  and  annually  celebrates 
that   event. 


CyO 


M 


XI 

THE  AMATEURS 

ENTION  should  be  made  of  known  gradu- 
ates from  the  ranks  of  the  amateurs  who 
have  made  good  on  the  legitimate  stage, 
like  Stuart  Baird,  whose  dramatic  abihty  was 
recognized  by  Winthrop  Ames,  who  induced  him  to 
give  up  a  business  career  for  the  foothghts.  Donald 
Bryan  —  he  of  "The  Merry  Widow"  and  "Buddies" 
fame,  known  for  his  nimble  feet,  and  charm  of  per- 
sonality—  was  comparatively  unknown  as  to  stage 
training,  but  hit  it  "right  from  the  start."  Without 
doubt  the  greatest  impersonator  of  the  feminine 
roles  is  Julien  Eltinge  who  has  been  called  "the 
handsomest  woman  on  the  stage."  The  best  thing 
about  him,  apart  from  his  inimitable  art  in  make-up, 
is  his  utter  manliness  away  from  the  footlights. 
"No  sissy  about  that  chap"  said  a  Londoner  fol- 
lowing one  of  his  plays.  He  began  his  career  as 
an  amateur  in  the  Boston  Bank  Officers  Associa- 
tion  annual  shows.     These   three   men  stand   out 

n72] 


BERTHA    WESSELHOEFT    SWIFT 
As  Falstaff 

MEMBER   OF   THE    PROFESSIONAL   WOMEN'S   CLUB   OF    BOSTON 


THE     AMATEURS 

through  personal  acquaintance  with  their  work, 
but  doubtless  there  are  others  who  have  not  come 
my  way. 

Perhaps  the  best  impersonator  of  male  roles  be- 
fore us  today  is  still  in  the  ranks  of  the  amateur, 
though  she  had  some  experience  on  the  regular 
stage  long  ago.  She  is  Miss  Bertha  Wesselhoeft 
Swift  of  Boston  and  is  widely  known  in  New  York 
dramatic  circles  as  an  early  member  of  The  Twelfth 
Night  Club.  She  is  a  singer  and  teacher,  with  strong 
personality  and  marked  temperament.  Annually 
The  Professional  Women's  Club,  of  which  she  is 
vice-president,  puts  on  a  pretentious  play  or  light 
opera  and  Miss  Swift  leads  in  male  roles.  Their 
first  play  was  "Masks  and  Faces"  when  Adelaide 
Ford  Hibbard  made  her  debut  from  the  platform, 
which  led  to  the  legitimate  stage,  which  she  *so 
ably  adorned  as  an  actress  of  versatihty.  They 
put  on  "As  You  Like  It"  coached  by  Marie  Burress 
Currier,  formerly  leading  woman  at  the  Museum. 
Then  came  "The  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor"  with 
Miss  Swift  as  Falstaff  as  pictured  in  this  book. 
She  was  coached  by  Thomas  Wise  and  wore  one  of 
his  costumes.  "School  for  Scandal"  was  given  in 
'19  and  "The  Rivals"  is  their  latest  success  —  this 
play    coached    by    Kate    Ryan    who    again    played 

1:733 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

Mrs.  Malaprop  much  to  the  delight  of  her  large 
following.  The  club  talent  is  drawn  upon  ex- 
clusively, as  there  are  a  number  of  actresses  enrolled, 
also  singers  of  wide  repute.  Lotta  Crabtree  and 
Julia  Arthur  are  honorary  members  for  the  drama. 


1:743 


JULIAN    ELTINGE 


XII 

IN  LIGHTER  VEIN 

A  VOLUME  might  be  written  of  those  who 
have  delighted  a  big  public  during  the  last 
decade  in  lighter  plays,  like  extravaganzas, 
musical  comedies  and  the  like.  They  are  too  nu- 
merous even  to  mention  in  any  detail.  There  was 
Marie  Jansen,  The  Weathersby  sisters,  delicious 
Francis  Wilson,  and  his  always  fine  company, 
Pauhne  Hall,  Lulu  Glasser,  petite  Ida  MuIIe,  Adele 
Ritchie,  Tom  Seabrooke,  Harry  Dixey,  Delia  Fox, 
Geraldine  Ulmer,  LilHan  Russell,  Otis  Harlan,  Nat 
Goodwin,  Sadie  Martinot,  George  Schiller,  the  Ideal 
Opera  Company  with  Barnabee,  who  has  left  an 
interesting  book,  "My  Wanderings,**  full  of  humor. 
Now  we  have  the  piquant  Elsie  Janis  to  delight  us 
we  hope  for  a  long  time,  on  both  stage  and  screen. 
Her  name  is  high  on  the  list  of  War  workers  and  she 
has  the  entire  A.  E.  F.  to  call  friends. 

A   word  more  of   Lillian    Russell,    the    perennial 
beauty  who  simply  refuses  to  grow  old.     She  is  a 

n75D 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

marvel,  in  that  she  keeps  her  heart  ever  young,  and 
her  mind  above  petty  things.  Her  mother  was 
Cynthia  Leonard,  a  woman  of  literary  abihty, 
whose  writings  have  been  lovingly  put  into  book 
form,  and  sent  to  family  friends  and  others.  The 
late  Nat  Goodwin  paid  as  high  a  tribute  to  Lillian 
Russell  as  one  can  hope  to  find  anywhere.  He 
called  her  a  "beautiful  and  much  misunderstood 
woman"  and  further  said,  "She  is  the  fairest  actress 
that  ever  shared  applause  with  a  brother  or  sister 
artist  and  possesses  all  the  attributes  that  make  a 
true  woman."  I  first  saw  her  at  the  Boston  Museum 
in  "Billee  Taylor"  in  ^85  and  then  never  missed  an 
attraction  in  which  she  figured. 

Another  active  player  on  stage  and  screen  is 
Fannie  Ward  who  looks  30,  and  is  really  the  mother 
of  a  married  daughter.  In  this  book  she  is  pictured 
at  the  age  of  17  when  playing  with  Harry  Dixey, 
just  before  she  went  to  London,  where  she  met  and 
married  Joe  Lewis,  the  diamond  broker.  Her  big 
screen  play  was  "The  Cheat,"  spoken  of  elsewhere. 

0/  Fleeting  Vision 

There  have  been  a  few  players  of  meteoric  careers, 
like  Lily  Langtry  called  in  her  young  days  "The 
Jersey  Lily."     She  is  the  daughter  of  a  clergyman, 

1:763 


IN     LIGHTER      VEIN 

was  a  great  beauty,  and  made  her  entree  into  London 
society  under  the  patronage  of  the  then  Prince  of 
Wales,  later  King  Edward.  She  came  to  America 
in  '87,  opening  at  the  Boston  theatre,  and  was 
certainly  good  to  look  at.  She  was  probably  the 
most  interviewed  woman  at  the  time.  She  invested 
in  real  estate  in  Cahfornia,  also  in  race  horses,  and 
acquired  the  title  of  "Queen  of  the  Turf.'*  As  an 
actress  she  was  not  much  of  a  success. 

Another  who  had  a  brief  but  exotic  career  was 
Mrs.  James  Brown  Potter  who  was  supported  by 
one  of  the  best  leading  men  of  the  day  —  the  late 
Kyrle  Bellew.  She  first  astonished  society  by  re- 
citing entire  the  poem  "Osier  Joe."  She  had  a 
beauty  of  the  audacious  type;  she  went  abroad 
years  ago  to  remain.  Another  beauty  with  un- 
doubted talent  who  comes  to  mind  is  Margaret 
Mather,  whom  I  first  saw  as  JuHet  at  the  Boston 
theatre  in  '84,  supported  by  the  young  Salvini, 
that  splendid  Italian  actor.  Mrs.  Leslie  Carter 
was  much  in  the  theatrical  eye  for  many  seasons, 
but  seems  to  have  retired.  She  had  quite  a  follow- 
ing in  such  successes  as  "Zaza,"  "The  Heart  of 
Maryland,"  and  some  more  or  less  bizarre  plays, 
and  we  miss  her. 

[1773 


XIII 

A  SUM-UP 

IT  has  been  said  and  truly  that  among  the  chief 
drawbacks  to  the  actor's  profession,  is  the  fact 
that  he  leaves  behind  him  nothing  by  which 
the  measure  of  his  talents  can  be  properly  gauged 
by  posterity.  True  it  is,  that  many  playgoers  hold 
the  great  players  in  memory,  but  there  is  ever  the 
newer  generation  which  beheves  nothing  not  tangible 
to  eye  and  ear.  The  cinema  comes  now  to  remedy 
that  —  but  alas,  present  day  players  may  imitate 
and  create  parts,  yet  cannot  reproduce  the  varied 
traits  of  the  great  tragedians  of  the  days  of  Booth, 
Barrett,  Jefferson,  Salvini  and  their  like.  This 
newer  generation  has  only  hearsay  evidence  of  what 
those  artists  stood  for  in  their  day. 

Well,  why  look  backward  anyhow,  someone  says. 
I,et  me  quote  that  prince  of  critics,  Phihp  Hale, 
referring  to  Forrest  and  the  hke.  "What  would  the 
playgoer  of  today  say  to  Charlotte  Cushman's 
Lady   Macbeth?     Would   he   be  thrilled  by   E.   L. 


A     S  U  M  -  U  P 

Davenport's  Sir  Giles  Overreach?  Would  Adelaide 
Neilson  work  her  spell?  Would  not  the  'Black 
Crook'  (decreed  as  immoral  then)  be  voted  tame 
today?  Would  Lydia  Thompson  and  her  British 
blondes  draw  young  blood  to  the  theatre  and  would 
George  L.  Fox  as  Hamlet,  Macbeth  and  Richelieu 
excite  uproarious  laughter?  Here's  enough  for  sad 
thinking." 

Tastes  and  demands  of  the  hour  have  changed, 
and  playgoers  are  seemingly  satisfied  with  reigning 
successes.  Many  assert  that  we  still  have  great 
talent,  while  others  deplore  the  decadence  of  the 
drama  as  they  see  it  in  perspective.  To  me,  the 
drama  is  as  attractive  as  ever,  and  will  be,  while 
we  have  such  players  in  our  midst  as  E.  H.  Sothern 
and  his  gifted  wife,  Julia  Marlowe,  Mrs.  Fiske 
(Minnie  Maddern),  Otis  Skinner,  Henry  Miller, 
Grant  Mitchell,  Mary  Shaw,  Julia  Arthur,  Margaret 
Anglin,  Leo  Carillo,  Blanche  Bates,  David  War- 
field,  Cyril  Maude,  George  Arliss,  Leo  Ditrichstein, 
John  Drew,  Nazimova,  Sir  John  Forbes- Robertson, 
the  delightful  Barry  mores.  Rose  Coghlan  and,  oh, 
ever  so  many  more,  to  say  nothing  of  the  promising 
young  players  in  the  public  eye  whom  I  may  have 
overlooked. 

Why  inject  bugbears,  and  live  in  the  past  anyhow! 

1:793 


i 


i 


THE  SILENT  DRAMA 

GOD'S  Great  Picture  Book"  is  what  a  Mas- 
sachusetts clergyman  designates  the  screen. 
It  is  more  than  that  —  for  it  not  only 
gives  us  scenic  beauty  visualized,  but  it  goes  farther 
than  the  printed  page.  Already,  motion  pictures 
are  shown  in  our  schoolrooms,  church  vestries,  and 
elsewhere,  outside  the  theatres,  for  educational, 
enlightening  and  religious  purposes.  While  this  is 
being  written,  none  other  than  that  master  mind, 
David  Wark  Griffith,  is  preparing  a  spectacle  built 
upon  an  episode  in  the  Bible.  It  is  already  known 
that  the  Bible,  with  its  1189  chapters,  is  to  be  filmed 
from  cover  to  cover,  in  a  series  of  52  pictures  by 
Raymond  Wells.  A  city  is  to  be  built,  if  not  al- 
ready completed,  on  one  of  the  hills  of  Cafifornia, 
to  be  named  Jerusalem.  This  is  not  in  any  sense 
another  "Passion  Play,"  but  100  reels  of  Bible  life 
in  animation.  Probably  some  of  the  scenes  will 
be  in  color,  so  rapidly  is  that  end  of  the  art  ad- 

C833 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

vancing.  The  Prizma  films  are  a  treat  to  the 
eye,  and  the  late  Theodore  Roosevelt,  on  seeing  one 
made  in  Arizona  said,  "Here  we  have  a  gigantic 
paint  pot  of  nature,  scenery  unparalleled  through- 
out the  world." 

Well  do  I  recall  the  travel  reels  put  out  by  that 
Frenchman,  Charles  Pathe,  picturing  Northern 
France  and  Belgium  in  colors,  and  made  before 
any  desecration  by  the  German  army.  How  fortu- 
nate we  have  these  pictures  for  posterity!  We  also 
owe  a  debt  to  Burton  Holmes,  the  super-camera- 
man, who  continues  to  take  us  to  unexplored  coun- 
tries we  may  never  see  in  person.  A  picture  showing 
the  Rhine,  taken  before  the  war,  caused  this  remark 
from  a  couple  back  of  me:  "Say,  it  cost  us  about 
$2,000  to  go  up  the  Rhine  and  we  never  got  near 
that  wonderful  spot."  "I  should  say  not,"  said 
his  companion;  "and  to  think  we  are  seeing  it  here 
for  25  cents."  A  patron  across  the  aisle  said  she 
thought  it  all  wrong  to  show  children  bathing  there 
without  clothing.  So  much  for  the  calibre  of  certain 
ones  who  assume  to  dictate  what  we  may  or  may 
not  see!  "To  the  pure  all  things  are  pure"  —  even 
nude  children. 

Times  have  indeed  changed  since  Shakespeare 
said  "All  the  world's  a  stage"  for  now  we  have  that 

LS42 


ALLA    NAZIMOVA, 
in  "The  Brat" 


THE     SILENT     DRAMA 

Utterance  in  fact  through  the  cinema.  In  the  old 
days  of  the  little  intimate  theatre,  the  house  had 
to  imagine  suitable  settings  to  the  dramatic  action 
of  the  players.  Now  we  have  all  countries  shown 
us  in  scenery,  salty  oceans,  climatic  conditions,  tall 
forests,  noted  mountains,  and  all  that  makes  up  the 
universe,  to  say  nothing  of  flesh  and  blood  men  and 
women  with  their  pantomimic  art.  Then,  too, 
think  of  the  boon  it  is  to  those  enduring  mental 
troubles  and  to  the  deaf.  It  is  to  them  what  music 
is  to  the  blind,  besides  being  a  pretty  good  cure  for 
the  "blues,"  for  the  time  being  anyhow. 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  the  utterances  of  prominent 
men  and  women  who  value  the  screen,  in  preserving 
for  posterity  the  art  of  great  players.  *'I  believe 
thoroughly  in  the  motion  picture,  present  and  future. 
It  is  the  most  democratic  of  arts  —  a  new  one 
composed  of  the  co-operative  eff'orts  of  author, 
director,  photographer  and  actor"  says  Mary  Rob- 
erts Rinehart,  author  of  one  of  the  best  books  and 
screen  plays  of  '19,  "Twenty-three  and  One-Half 
Hours*  Leave.'* 

None  other  than  Alia  Nazimova  has  this  to  say: 
"Many  of  the  greatest  actors  and  actresses  have 
held  themselves  aloof  from  the  screen,  assuming  an 
air  of  superiority  —  a  great  mistake,  ft  is  suicidal. 

1:85] 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

None  of  us  want  to  feel  that  when  our  years  of 
acting  have  ended,  we  will  be  forgotten,  yet  this  is 
inevitable,  unless  we  take  advantage  of  the  op- 
portunity offered  by  the  camera.  Nor  is  this 
mere  egotism,  but  an  appreciation  of  the  fact  that 
now  we  have  a  chance  to  contribute  our  offerings 
to  the  world's  permanent  art." 

The  day  has  passed  for  disparaging  words  against 
the  screen  plays.  Oftentimes  we  have  heard  per- 
sons acknowledge  seeing  a  picture,  prefacing  the 
remark  with  an  apology  for  having  gone,  yet  at  the 
same  time  extolling  the  play.  Actors  by  the  thou- 
sands have  openly  sneered  at  the  pictures,  declaring 
they  would  "never  get  into  the  things,"  they  felt 
so  sure  of  their  jobs  —  maybe.  It  is  difficult 
today  to  find  many  players  of  note  who  have  not 
made  the  venture,  successful  or  otherwise,  the  list 
being  much  smaller  of  those  on  the  outside  than 
within.  Then  came  alleged  reformers,  who  set  up 
a  howl  about  the  evils  and  menace  of  the  motion 
pictures,  yet  who  sit  calmly  through  silly  lingerie, 
bed  room  and  semi-nude  presentations,  paying  high 
prices  too,  with  never  a  qualm  or  quiver  of  an 
eyelash.  When  such  pictures  are  shown  on  the 
screen,  oh  my,  what  a  diff'erence!  Take  "The 
Scarlet   Letter,"   that    masterpiece   of  Hawthorne. 

n863 


MAXINE   ELLIOTT 


JANE    COWL 


MME.    PETROVA 


NANCE   O'NEIL 


THE     SILENT     DRAMA 

When  'screened  the  amalgamated  moralists  yelled 
"Unfit  to  see."  Another  type,  looking  for  trouble 
and  evil,  declared  that  picture  houses  were  too 
dark  and  crimes  were  usually  committed  in  dark- 
ness; that  the  average  child  is  tempted  by  what 
he  sees  on  the  screen,  failing  to  realize  that  he 
might  be  impressed  and  tempted  in  the  opposite 
direction.  Among  the  countless  lessons  taught  in 
the  films,  even  for  adults,  are  the  triumph  of  right 
over  wrong,  care  of  dumb  beasts,  birds  and  the 
like,  to  say  nothing  of  the  lessons  taught  in  geog- 
raphy depicting  God's  country  from  Maine  to  Cali- 
fornia and  all  around  the  world. 

Bertha  Kalich  says,  "The  picture  is  a  foe  to  ig- 
norance, is  building  and  creating  a  new  literature 
of  its  own,  and  is  wonderful  propaganda,  an  un- 
studied portray er  of  the  right  and  wrong  things  to 
do."  Maxine  Elliott  who  has  been  in  several 
pictures  calls  the  screen  "Narrative  Sculpture." 
David  Griffith,  an  absolute  authority  on  screen- 
craft,  says  "The  truths  of  history  today  are  limited 
to  the  few  attending  colleges  and  universities;  the 
motion  picture  can  carry  these  truths  to  the  entire 
world,  while  at  the  same  time  bringing  diversion  to 
the  masses.  No  newspaper  succeeds  in  pleasing 
everybody,  no  motion  picture  dealing  with  moral. 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

religious,  or  educational  matter  can  avoid  offending 
some  person's  prejudice.  Censors  have  prejudices. 
American  citizens  should  be  free  to  use  their  own 
judgment,  to  make  their  own  standards,  and  to  en- 
tertain and  instruct  themselves  as  they  see  fit  within 
the  limits  of  decency  and  order.  The  efforts  of 
censors  is  to  prevent  this  liberty." 

True,  some  photoplays  are  trashy,  vulgar  and 
uninteresting  to  the  intelhgent  mind,  and  few  of 
us  find  merit  in  slapstick  which  is  growing  into 
disfavor,  as  people  are  waking  up  to  the  value  of 
the  screen.  At  the  same  time,  countless  beings 
enjoy  that  sort  of  thing,  so  why  assume  an  atti- 
tude of  "hofier  than  thou"?  Mack  Sennett  gets 
millions  of  laughs  daily  through  his  Hvely  outputs. 
What's  the  harm?  Laughter  is  a  big  tonic  and 
saves  doctors'  bills  —  sometimes. 

While  the  screen  needs  no  defence  or  advertising, 
it  is  well  to  dwell  on  the  type  of  men  who  endorse 
it,  like  the  late  Theodore  Roosevelt  who  valued  it 
to  the  utmost  and  who  deplored  censorship,  of 
pictures  especially,  when  they  are  already  passed 
upon  by  supposedly  intelligent  men  and  women 
and  are  all  within  the  law  anyhow.  He  saw  the  good 
in  them,  and  realized  their  constant  improvement. 
The  Hon.  Franklin  K.  Lane,  who  has  taken  up  the 

CSS] 


CHARLES    KENT 


GEORGE    FAWCETT 


FREDERICK    WARDE 


HERBERT    STANDING 


THE     SILENT     DRAMA 

work  of  Americanization,  said  to  the  motion  picture 
men,  whom  he  gathered  around  him  in  Washington, 
"You  can  render  a  greater  service  than  schools  or 
the  press  of  the  country,  since  one  half  milhon 
persons  in  the  United  States  can  neither  read  nor 
write  English,  but  the  screen  speaks  a  universal 
language."  He  believed  that  persons  who  have 
plenty  of  resources  for  amusement  can  afford  to 
take  their  pleasures  lightly  and  can  forget  educa- 
tion, such  as  it  happens  to  be,  but  those  who  are 
Hmited  to  the  screen  for  their  only  form  of  amuse- 
ment must  look  to  this  medium  for  both  recreation 
and  intellectual  stimulus.  Motion  pictures  are  un- 
doubtedly closer  to  the  people  than  either  literature 
or  the  drama  (spoken).  It  was  the  good  fortune 
of  the  screen  during  the  World  War  to  bring  mes- 
sages to  eager  ones  all  over  the  world  and  to  cheer 
up  countless  homesick  boys  "over  there."  The 
news  weeklies  alone  are  more  than  worth  while  and 
are  a  glorification  of  the  newspaper. 


ZSgl 


II 

STOCK  COMPANIES 

TALK  about  stock  companies  of  the  stage, 
how  about  the  Vftagraph  company,  now  in 
its  23rd  year?  Albert  Smith  deserves  men- 
tion for  what  he  alone  has  contributed  toward  the 
history  of  the  screen  and  he  is  still  at  his  post, 
with  the  good  old  trademark  —  Vitagraph,  back  of 
him.  Can  you  recall  the  names  of  the  company 
of  players,  many  of  whom  have  graduated  from 
from  this  school  and  become  stars  in  other  com- 
panies? Some  remain,  like  handsome  Alice  Joyce, 
Corinne  Griffith,  Harry  Morey,  Charles  Kent  and 
Earle  Williams.  That  company  never  put  out  a 
weak  picture,  and  most  of  them  are  worthy  of 
"repeats"  for  generations  to  come,  as  all  are  free 
from  suggestiveness  in  any  form.  Space  does  not 
permit  extended  mention  of  the  players,  but  can  we 
forget  Florence  Turner,  the  English  actress,  the 
first  from  that  country  to  enter  the  screen  from  the 
speaking  stage?     Rose  Tapley  was  our  first  one  to 

1:903 


ALICE    BRADY 


MARY    MILES    MINTER 


CONSTANCE    BINNEY 


WANDA   HAWTEY 


STOCK     COMPANIES 

enter  the  field.  She  had  played  with  Mansfield 
and  other  big  players  in  many  cities.  Her  initial 
picture  was  made  in  '05  when  the  pantomimic  art 
was  gaining  its  first  recognition,  but  her  real  train- 
ing came  when  she  joined  the  Vitagraph  company 
in  '09  for  continuous  service,  though  she  Jobbed  a 
bit  for  the  speaking  stage.  Then  there  were  Charles 
Richman,  Joseph  Kilgour,  Louise  Beaudet,  Harry 
Davenport,  son  of  E.  L.  Davenport,  who  became  a 
director,  and  now  is  on  the  stage  once  more.  His 
late  brother  Edgar  did  commendable  work  before 
the  camera;  Peggy  Hyland,  Frank  Currier;  the  late 
Sidney  Drew;  his  son  S.  Rankin  Drew,  who  gave 
his  life  in  the  World  War;  Mrs.  Drew  who  was 
Lucille  McVey;  Marshall  Neilan,  now  the  youngest 
and  one  of  the  most  notable  directors,  whose  name 
spells  ability  as  evidenced  in  his  **  Daddy- Long- 
Legs"  and  more  recently  "The  Riveras  End"; 
Bessie  Love;  Antonio  Moreno,  Naomi  Childers, 
that  handsome  pair  Julia  Swayne  Gordon  and 
Eulalie  Jensen,  Tom  Mills,  also  a  director,  "Bob" 
Edeson,  Virginia  Pearson,  Marc  MacDermott, 
Ernest  Truex,  Lillian  Walker,  Edith  Storey,  Leah 
Baird,  Anita  Stewart,  Bobby  Connelly,  and  many 
more. 

Oh,  for  the  good  old  days  of  the  Biograph  and 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

Essanay  companies!  The  latter  put  out  the  O. 
Henry  pictures,  and  the  George  Ade  "Fables  in 
Slang'*  played  by  such  artists  as  Sydney  Ainsworth, 
Frank  Glendon,  Ernest  Maupin  and  John  Cossar. 
Then  there  were  the  Skinner  stories,  with  Bryant 
Washburn,  to  say  nothing  of  such  players  as  Richard 
Travers,  Shirley  Mason,  Tsura  Aoki,  and  little  Mary 
McAllister  whose  pictures  ought  to  be  seen  every 
season,  such  as  the  series  **Do  Children  Count?'* 
As  to  the  Biograph  company  one  cannot  dis- 
connect the  name  of  Griffith,  the  discoverer  of  so 
much  talent,  like  the  Gish  sisters,  Bobby  Harron, 
Miriam  Cooper,  Blanche  Sweet,  Mae  Marsh,  Jack 
Mulhall,  the  incomparable  Mary  Pickford,  whose 
first  picture  was  "The  Violin  Maker  of  Cremona*' 
in  'op.  From  that  company  came  Henry  Walthall, 
the  "Booth  of  the  Screen**  whose  work  is  immortal- 
ized in  the  "Birth  of  a  Nation'*  and  "The  Confes- 
sion.** Lionel  Barrymore  and  Thomas  Jefferson 
were  members  and  Donald  Crisp,  the  "heavy**  in 
"Broken  Blossoms,**  and  now  a  director. 

SOME  TYPES 

Among  many  players  to  elevate  the  screen  are 
Edith  Story  who  supported  E.  H.  Sothern  in  his 
picture    version    of  "If    I    Were   King.**     Perhaps 


VERNON    STEEL 


JOHN    BARRYMORE 


WYNDHAM    STANDING 


STOCK     COMPANIES 

her  best  picture  was  "The  Island  of  Regeneration," 
played  with  "Tony"  Moreno,  and  little  Bobby 
Connelly  as  the  child.  Nance  O'Neil  has  done 
exceptional  work  before  the  camera  her  art  in  ex- 
pression and  repression  aiding  her  greatly.  William 
Courtleigh  is  now  seen;  his  young  son  made  a  hit 
in  "Neal  of  the  Navy"  and  then  went  out  of  life 
too  soon  by  many  years.  William  Courtenay  has 
also  several  pictures  to  his  credit.  Edwin  Stevens 
is  another  who  seems  in  demand  for  heavy  parts, 
usually  of  the  villain  type.  He  is  an  actor  of  promi- 
nence, like  Frank  Keenan,  H.  B.  Warner  and  Forrest 
Robinson,  all  well  known  to  patrons  of  both  stage 
and  screen.  Robert  Warwick  lines  up  for  ver- 
satility, starting  first  in  musical  comedies  and 
light  operas,  then  in  the  speaking  play,  in  support 
of  Mary  Mannering  and  others.  His  screen  work  is 
of  a  high  order.  The  "Heart  of  a  Hero"  —  the 
story  of  Nathan  Hale  —  is  one  of  his  best,  a  part 
of  it  taken  in  old  Marblehead,  for  atmosphere. 
In  a  quiet  way  Major  Warwick  did  effective  work 
during  the  war,  and  made  a  record  "over  there" 
on  the  army  intelligence  staff  at  the  front. 


C933 


Ill 

NOTABLE  PLAYS  AND   PLAYERS 


M 


INNIE  MADDERN  FISKE  made  one 
good  picture,  "Vanity  Fair,"  most  of  it 
done  in  and  around  historic  Louisburg 
Square,  Boston  —  so  like  a  bit  of  "Ole  Lunnon." 
Her  cousin  and  protegee,  Emily  Stevens,  has  made 
a  record  in  several  pictures,  perhaps  "The  Slacker" 
being  the  most  popular,  made  during  the  war,  as 
it  was  a  stimulus  in  itself.  In  my  opinion  "The 
Soul  of  a  Woman'*  stands  out  as  the  most  artistic, 
and  in  this  was  George  LeGuere,  an  uncommonly 
versatile  young  actor.  This  picture  had  a  strong 
moral  lesson,  though  far  from  preachy.  Miss 
Stevens  first  appeared  on  the  speaking  stage  in 
*oi  with  Mrs.  Fiske  in  "Becky  Sharp"  and  returns 
occasionally  to  the  footlights.  Marguerite  Snow, 
beautiful  as  well  as  clever,  is  the  wife  of  James 
Cruze,  the  director,  and  first  appeared  in  "The 
College  Widow";  then  came  "Rosemary"  and 
others.      She   supported   Francis   X.    Bushman   for 

C94II 


NOTABLE  PLAYS  AND  PLAYERS 

awhile,  and  goes  to  the  speaking  stage  now  and 
then,  as  in  "Broadway  Jones,"  in  which  she  created 
a  part,  along  with  the  author,  George  Cohan,  who 
has  also  been  on  the  screen  successfully.  Anita 
Stewart  is  popular  and  now  a  star  in  her  own  right. 
Enid  Bennett  has  made  marked  strides  the  past 
two  seasons,  under  the  direction  of  her  husband 
Fred  Niblo.  Her  "Stepping  Out"  with  Niles  Welch 
was  one  of  the  best  plays  of  the  past  season,  as  it 
struck  a  keynote  in  domestic  hfe,  and  carried  a 
pretty  good  lesson  along.  Wilham  Faversham  has 
been  in  one  or  two  good  pictures  hke  **The  Silver 
King"  and  "The  Right  of  Way." 

Elsie  Ferguson,  who  goes  from  stage  to  screen 
and  vice  versa,  is  an  actress  par  excellence,  her  art 
ever  uppermost.  She  can  take  a  close-up  "without 
fear  and  trembhng,"  and  never  requires  the  usually 
heavy  make-up  which  too  many  use.  Since  her 
stage  play  "The  Strange  Woman,"  in  *I3,  milhons 
have  seen  her  pantomimic  work  in  pictures,  suf- 
ficiently varied  to  suit  all  tastes.  She  can  wear 
fme  raiment,  without  looking  hke  a  fashion  plate, 
and  she  never  descends  to  vampire  methods  — 
perish  the  thought!  Her  "Heart  of  the  Rose" 
with  that  finished  actor  Wyndham  Standing  is  one 
of  the  best  in  her  repertoire,  and  it  had  a  patriotic 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

appeal.  The  gamut  of  emotions  was  fairly  well 
run  and  such  a  picture  is  good  for  revival  genera- 
tions hence.  In  these  too  brief  sketches  I  have 
little  to  do  with  the  private  hves  of  our  subjects, 
yet  it  is  good  to  say  of  Elise  Ferguson  that  she  is  a 
supremely  happy  woman  in  her  domestic  affairs, 
and  lives  up  to  high  standards.  She  is  rightly 
called  the  "Patrician  of  the  photoplay." 

Thomas  Meighan  became  a  star  of  the  first  mag- 
nitude, when  he  appeared  as  the  champion  crook  in 
"The  Miracle  Man,"  the  last  of  the  quartette  to 
be  converted.  He  has  ever  been  a  favorite,  of  the 
strong  sterling  type,  and  owes  much  to  his  training, 
under  the  Paramount  banner.  Truly  directors  have 
given  him  some  choice  feminine  stars  like  Elsie 
Ferguson  in  "Heart  of  the  Wilds";  Marie  Doro  in 
"Common  Ground";  Billie  Burke  in  "Pursuit  of 
Polly";  Blanche  Sweet  in  "Secret  Sin";  Mar- 
guerite Clark  in  "Out  of  a  Clear  Sky  ";  Mary  Pick- 
ford  in  "M'liss";  Betty  Compson  in  "The  Miracle 
Man";  and  later  Gloria  Swanson  in  "Male  and 
Female."  There's  the  gamut  for  you  'in  screen 
love  making!  He  married  Frances  Ring  of  the 
Boston  theatrical  family  of  Rings,  which  includes 
Blanche,  and  is  a  lover  par  excellence  in  real,  as 
well  as  in  "reel"  life. 

1:963 


ENIU    BENNETT    (MRS.    FRED    NIBLO) 


NOTABLE  PLAYS  AND  PLAYERS 

House  Peters  is  another  fine  type  of  the  robust 
actor,  his  best  picture  being  **The  Great  Divide" 
done  in  Arizona.  Douglas  Fairbanks  has  a  large 
following  and  delights  in  athletic  stunts.  Eugene 
O'Brien  is  said  to  make  love  better  on  the  screen 
than  any  of  the  younger  leads.  Needless  to  say, 
he  is  vastly  popular  with  the  ladies  in  front,  but  in 
no  sense  a  matinee  idol,  for  he  abhors  that  sort  of 
adulation.  He  is  at  present  in  very  ** select"  com- 
pany with  Elsie  Janis,  Constance  Binney,  Elaine 
Hammerstein  and  Wanda  Hawley. 

Otis  Skinner,  rated  by  critical  authorities  as 
America's  foremost  romantic  player  of  the  present 
day,  is  now  immortalized  in  one  of  his  notable 
plays,  "Kismet,"  so  the  younger  generation  of 
"near"  actors  and  others  will  be  benefited.  His 
plastic,  picturesque  style,  buoyancy  and  exuberance, 
fit  him  exactly  for  the  screen.  Man^  temptations 
went  his  way  to  face  the  camera,  before  he  yielded. 
"Kismet"  in  all  its  splendor,  with  the  only  Haji 
the  beggar,  when  seen,  will  arouse  intense  interest. 
He  is  the  son  of  a  clergyman  and  the  world  of 
theatre-goers  need  no  introduction  regarding  his 
place  on  the  American  stage. 

The  Cooper  family  known  for  generations  is  ably 
represented  in  this  country   on  stage  and  screen. 

1:973 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

Take  H.  Cooper-CIifFe  whose  Nobody  in  "Every- 
woman"  was  so  artistic.  He  came  here  with 
Wilson  Barrett  years  ago,  was  in  support  of  Irving 
and  Terry,  playing  many  parts  from  opera  to  tragedy. 
He  is  descended  from  the  famous  Kembles  of  which 
family  the  late  Sarah  Siddons  was  a  member.  Greta 
Kemble  Cooper  in  the  microscopic  role  in  "One 
Night  in  Rome,"  produced  in  '19,  is  a  niece  of 
Cliffe  who  was  also  in  the  play.  Her  sister  Violet 
was  with  Wilham  Gillette  in  *'Dear  Brutus"  and  will 
be  recalled  in  "Peg  o'  my  Heart."  Another  sister 
is  Lillian  Kemble  Cooper,  heard  in  "Hitchy  Koo" 
with  the  inimitable  Raymond  Hitchcock,  who  has 
done  screen  stunts,  and  there  are  doubtless  others 
not  known  to  me.  H.  Cooper-Cliffe  has  added 
lustre  to  the  screen  as  well,  and  played  Mans- 
field's part  in  a  pictured  version  of  "The  Parisian 
Romance." 

Monroe  Salisbury  is  a  favorite  and  will  be  re- 
called for  his  fine  portrayal  of  the  Indian,  Ales- 
sandro,  in  "Ramona,"  a  pretentious  picturization 
of  Helen  Hunt  Jackson's  famous  novel.  This  pic- 
ture was  put  on  for  runs  and  had  unique  features, 
in  that  the  stage  was  set  with  street  scenes,  and 
living  people  (all  in  color)  who  moved  about  with 
guitars  and  violins  between  the  reels,  most  effectively. 


WALLACE    REID 


NOTABLE  PLAYS  AND  PLAYERS 

Cyril  Maude  has  been  seen  in  his  stage  success, 
"Peer  Gynt."  The  Tell  sisters  —  Alma  and  Ohve, 
have  dehghted  us.  EfFie  Shannon,  widow  of  Her- 
bert Kelsey,  made  one  quite  good  picture,  "Her 
Boy"  another  war  play  but  quite  unhke  "The 
Slacker"  in  theme.  Pauhne  Frederick  has  a  large 
following,  and  she  has  never  failed  to  please  when 
given  the  right  sort  of  picture.  Petrova  is  unique 
and,  like  Nazimova,  stands  out  clearly  as  unsur- 
passed along  artistic  Hues,  pecuhar  to  her  tem- 
perament. We  hked  "The  Brat"  best  for  the 
latter,  though  "The  Heart  of  a  Child"  is  conceded 
the  better  one.  In  most  of  her  pictures  her  hus- 
band, Charles  Bryant,  plays  the  hero.  He  also  wrote 
the  scenario  for  the  last  mentioned.  May  AHi- 
son  is  tremendously  popular.  "Fair  and  Warmer," 
for  Miss  AUison,  was  one  scream,  but  we  hke  best 
to  recall  her  work  in  support  of  the  lamented  Har- 
old Lockwood.  Then  there's  the  perennial  Fanny 
Ward,  and  the  still  lovely  Lilhan  Russell,  who 
simply  refuse  to  grow  old.  Maxine  Elliott,  Lillian 
Russell,  and  Viola  Allen  have  all  faced  the  camera, 
but  not  with  the  hoped-for  success. 

Marguerite  Clark  is  in  a  class  by  herself  on  stage 
and  screen.  Who  will  ever  forget  her  in  Margaret 
Mayo's    "Baby   Mine"    which   millions   have   now 

1:993 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

seen  screened,  with  the  irrepressible  Madge  Ken- 
nedy? Little  Clark  has  a  large  following,  among 
adults  and  children.  Like  Mary  Pickford,  she 
commands  attention  of  all  "in  front"  no  matter 
the  age.  We  feel  that  Miss  Clark's  best  picture  is 
"Still  Waters'*  made  along  the  Delaware  water 
gap,  and  with  a  real  circus  in  action.  No  person 
seems  too  old  to  turn  the  hourglass  back  to  the  good 
old  circus  days.  A  picture  that  lines  up  with  that 
is  "Polly  of  the  Circus"  with  Mae  Marsh  and 
handsome  Vernon  Steel,  as  the  ministerial  hero. 
Here  too,  we  get  the  "three  ring"  features  as  in 
"One-Thing-at-a-time-0'Day"  featuring  Bert  Lytell, 
in  a  clever  Metro  comedy.  Another  star  who 
went  from  comedy,  a  la  slapstick,  into  the  compe- 
tent hands  of  directors  of  straight  comedy  is  Mabel 
Normand.  One  of  her  most  effective  pictures  is 
"Joan  of  Plattsburg"  taken  during  the  war  at  the 
camp  of  that  name,  where  she  got  mixed  up  with 
the  officers  during  a  trench  drill,  and  incidentally 
rounded  up  German  spies  and  found  a  screen 
husband  with  shoulder  straps.  This  is  a  good, 
wholesome  play,  picturing  actual  happenings  at  this 
training  school  —  the  idea  of  Gen.  Leonard  Wood. 

Henry  Kolker,  besides  being  an  exceptional  actor, 
of  many  parts,  on  both  stage  and  screen,  has  now 

I  100  3 


CHARLES    RAY 


MARGUERITE    CLARK 


BILLIE    BURKE 


THEODORE    ROBERTS 


NOTABLE  PLAYS  AND  PLAYERS 

become  a  director,  as  well  as  author  and  scenario 
writer,  his  skill  shown  in  '*The  Third  Generation" 
put  out  early  this  year.  In  this  is  one  of  the 
wonder -child  actresses  —  Peggy  Cartwright.  Wal- 
lace Reid,  son  of  the  late  eminent  author,  Hal 
Reid,  who  wrote  "The  Confession,'*  needs  no  in- 
troduction, as  a  Paramount  leading  man  during 
his  screen  career.  He  married  Dorothy  Davenport, 
daughter  of  Harry  Davenport,  therefore  grand- 
daughter of  the  late  E.  L.  Davenport.  His  per- 
sonality is  compelling  on  the  screen.  Among  other 
leading  men  to  come  to  mind  at  the  moment  are 
the  Moore  brothers,  Tom,  Matt  and  Owen;  Pedro 
de  Cordoba,  the  Spaniard,  first  seen  by  me  in  sup- 
port of  Farrar  in  an  early  picture;  Mahlon  Hamilton 
and  Thomas  Holding  who  have  played  with  Petrova 
and  other  big  stars;  Lou  Tellegen,  former  leading 
man  for  Bernhardt,  and  now  in  support  of  Ger- 
aldine  Farrar,  his  wife,  "The  Flame  of  the  Desert" 
being  their  very  best  picture  to  date;  George  Beban; 
in  a  class  by  himself  especially  in  Italian  character, 
Niles  Welch;  C.  Aubrey  Smith  seen  first  in  "The 
Witching  Hour'*  with  young  Jack  Sherrill  who  has 
advanced  so  rapidly;"  Frank  Mills,  Milton  Sills  and 
that  prince  of  lovers,  Conway  Tearle,  are  a  trio  with 
methods  alike;  Jack  Livingstone;  Hamilton  Revelle 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

who  played  with  Mary  Garden ;  Monty  Blue  —  re- 
call his  " Petty grew's  Girl"?;  W.  Lawson  Butt, 
brother  of  stately  Clara  Butt  the  singer,  and  who 
was  in  "The  Miracle  Man";  Pell  Trenton;  Jack 
Pickford  whose  best  picture  was  "The  Spirit  of 
Seventeen";  Robert  Elliott,  the  lover  in  "Joan  of 
Plattsburg";  James  Morrison;  Robert  Gordon,  hero 
of  "Missing"  and  a  protege  of  J.  Stuart  Blackton; 
Wheeler  Oakman;  John  Bowers;  Harrison  Ford; 
Rod  La  Roque;  Tom  Forman,  especially  clever  in 
all  he  does;  Edward  Martindell,  who  was  first  seen 
by  me  in  Mary  Pickford's  "The  Foundling";  Rupert 
Julian ;  E.  K.  Lincoln ;  Orren  Johnson ;  King  Baggot ; 
Edmund  Breese,  one  of  the  oldtime  players  of  the 
stage;  Creighton  Hale;  J.  Warren  Kerrigan;  William 
Russell;  Henry  Hull;  James  L.  Crane,  who  married 
Alice  Brady  and  her  lead  on  stage  and  before  the 
camera.  He  is  a  son  of  Dr.  Frank  Crane,  author, 
lecturer  and  now  on  the  screen  in  the  picture  "De- 
mocracy." Then  there  are  Dorothy  Dalton,  little 
Vivian  Martin,  and  those  dancing  sprites.  May 
Murray  and  Anne  Pennington. 

Emmy  Wehlen,  the  dainty  Austrian  actress,  now 
an  American,  is  most  artistic  on  both  stage  and 
screen,  a  convincing  interpretator  of  character, 
with  a  charm  of  personality  and  delicacy  of  expres- 

C  102] 


EUGENE    O'BRIEN 


NOTABLE  PLAYS  AND  PLAYERS 

sion,  like  Bessie  Barriscale,  another  finished  player. 
Viola  Dana  is  gifted  along  many  lines,  and  scored  in 
**The  Poor  Little  Rich  Girl"  before  the  screen 
claimed  her.  She  also  supported  Thomas  Jefferson 
in  his  father's  masterpiece  **Rip  Van  Winkle." 
Florence  Vidor  is  one  of  the  screen  beauties  greatly 
resembhng  Ahce  Joyce.  Olive  Thomas  and  Mil- 
dred Harris  are  of  the  dainty  type  with  youth 
on  their  side  —  plus  beauty.  Blanche  Bates  gave 
us  a  taste  of  her  pantomimic  art  in  **The  Girl  of 
the  Golden  West,"  supported  by  that  fine  actor 
Hobart  Bosworth. 

Emma  Dunn  has  given  us  a  remarkable  picture 
in  her  "Old  Lady  31,"  a  longtime  stage  success. 
Many  newcomers  are  listed  day  by  day  in  the 
press,  among  them  Marjorie  Rambeau,  David  War- 
field,  Doris  Keane,  Thomas  Ross,  Marguerite  Sylva, 
Paul  Gilmore,  Martha  Mansfield,  Bessie  McCoy- 
Davis  and  Rosalind  Ivan,  the  list  growing  rapidly 
for  both  sexes. 

Much  talent  has  descended  from  parents  to  those 
now  in  the  picture  hmelight,  many  with  stage  suc- 
cesses to  their  credit  hke  the  Barrymore  trio.  The 
Jeff'erson  brothers,  Harry  Davenport  and  Sydney 
Booth,  the  last  to  bear  such  historic  names  as  players; 
Lydia  Yeamens  Titus;  Ethel  Grey  Terry,  daughter 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

of  Lillian  Lawrence,  who  has  also  been  on  the 
screen;  Derwent  Hall  Caine,  son  of  Hall  Caine; 
Willie  Collier,  Jr.,  who  made  such  a  hit  in  **The 
Bugle  Call,'*  a  picture  to  see  often;  Florence  Reed; 
Frank  Mayo,  and  doubtless  many  more  whom  I 
do  not  recall. 

Walter  Hampden  before  his  hit  in  Hamlet  ap- 
peared in  at  least  one  picture  —  "The  Warfare  of 
the  Flesh,"  with  the  late  Theodore  Friebus,  and 
Marie  Shotwell.  William  S.  Hart,  who  is  soon  to 
retire  from  acting,  does  so  many  things  and  so  well, 
it  is  hard  to  place  him  on  any  special  list.  Like 
Tom  Mix,  he  runs  to  Western  plays,  yet  fits  well  in 
drawing  room  scenes.  He  has  a  strong  personality 
and  his  stunts  are  audacious. 

Clara  Kimball  Young  ranks  very  high  in  screen 
history,  as  conscientious,  good  to  look  at,  and  ever 
an  artist.  She  has  inherited  gifts  and  uses  them 
wisely.  One  of  the  best  plays  seen  last  season 
was  her  "  Eyes  of  Youth."  Her  repertoire  is  varied, 
and  she  has  had  more  screen  lovers  than  any  other 
star.  Annette  Kellerman  the  Australian  swimmer 
has  done  artistic  toying  with  the  waters,  and  al- 
ways a  picture  of  grace  and  daring.  Pavlowa  has 
disclosed  her  art  on  the  screen  as  have  other 
dancers. 

C1043 


BERT    LYTELL 


MAY    ALLISON 


VIOLA    DANA 


TAYLOR    HOLMES 


IV 

SCREEN  CHARACTERS 

SO  many  types  appear  in  the  silent  drama 
that  is  it  difficult  to  classify  them.  Theodore 
Roberts  comes  first,  as  a  veteran  and  a  fine 
example  of  the  actor  who  does  things  well  at  all 
times;  whether  in  the  character  of  a  villain,  roue, 
the  hard  hearted  father,  scheming  business  man, 
or  the  "goody  goody"  sort.  Raymond  Hatton  is 
another,  though  younger,  and  is  exceptionally  versa- 
tile. We  have  seen  him  play  the  King,  heavy 
villain,  crook,  lover,  soldier,  etc.,  with  equal  skill. 
Take  the  Arbuckle  men  —  those  jolly  comedians, 
giving  us  clean  fun,  especially  Macklyn,  he  of  the 
rotund  figure,  known  to  all,  in  many  a  good  play 
like  "The  Reform  Candidate.'*  William  Crane  if 
he  never  makes  another  picture  has  "David  Harum" 
to  his  credit,  and  it  will  never  grow  old.  In  this  the 
lamented  Harold  Lockwood  made  one  of  his  earli- 
est appearances.  The  Farnum  brothers  both  are 
capable  of  being  entrusted  with  varied  parts.  Wil- 
li 105] 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

liam  goes  in  for  the  virile  but  we  like  to  recall  his 
playing  in  "A  Tale  of  Two  Cities'*  and  Dustin  in 
"David  Garick,"  though  "The  Corsican  Brothers" 
is  a  close  rival.  Charles  S.  Abbe,  one  of  the  few 
left  of  the  Boston  Museum,  a  versatile  comedian, 
made  us  all  laugh  in  his  first  screen  play  "Niobe," 
with  Hazel  Dawn.  He  started  as  a  "supe"  in 
"Michael  Strogoff "  at  the  old  Boston  theatre,  and 
he  has  supported  Booth.  Tully  Marshall  is  worthy 
of  special  mention,  also  William  Tooker  and  Tyrone 
Power,  first  recalled  on  the  screen  in  the  somewhat 
sensational  picture,  "Where  are  my  Children?**, 
one  of  the  early  presentations  of  the  so-called  mo- 
rality or  problem  plays,  which  were  more  or  less 
"eye-openers**  to  social  conditions  and  which  the 
Government  rightly  approved  of,  during  the  war. 
Frank  Bacon,  co-author  with  Winchell  Smith  in  the 
play  "Lightnin***  which  has  made  a  record  in  New 
York's  theatrical  history,  has  a  delightful  personality  on 
the  screen,  second  only  to  that  on  the  stage.  Then, 
for  middle  aged  men  who  do  some  character  work 
are  Charles  Clary,  Winter  Hall,  who  played  the  Bel- 
gian King  in  that  delightful  picture  play  "'Till  I  Come 
Back  to  You*'  with  Bryant  Washburn,  Florence 
Vidor  and  a  troupe  of  kiddies.  J.  Barney  Sherry  and 
Charles  Clark  must  be  listed  as  dependable  always. 
1:106  3 


LILLIAN    GISH 


MARY    PICKFORD 


ALICE   JOYCE 


MAE  MARSH 


SCREEN     CHARACTERS 

The  late  John  Hare  appeared  in  pictures  with 
Peggy  Hyland  in  "Caste."  He  created  the  part  of 
Eccles  on  the  speaking  stage,  so  it  was  a  genuine 
treat  to  see  him  do  it  in  pantomime. 

Playing  strong  parts  in  and  out  of  character  are 
longtime  actors  like  Melbourne  MacDowell,  who 
made  his  first  stage  appearance  as  Charles  the 
Wrestler  in  "As  You  Like  It"  with  Adelaide  Neil- 
son.  Later  he  joined  Fanny  Davenport,  and  they 
married.  He  became  widely  known  as  a  powerful 
leading  man  of  many  parts.  He  has  a  distinguished 
screen  presence,  and  strong  personahty.  Another 
of  that  sort  is  Frank  Losee  who  retains  his  good 
looks  and  dignity.  Alec  Francis,  he  of  the  twink- 
ling eye,  plays  equally  well  the  indulgent  father, 
the  peacemaker,  the  man  of  affairs,  the  some  time 
butler,  but  never  have  we  seen  him  doing  the  screen 
villain.  He,  like  the  two  just  mentioned,  comes 
from  the  speaking  stage,  first  in  England  with  the 
Kendalls,  then  in  several  Broadway  successes.  He 
is  college  bred,  a  one  time  lawyer,  a  lover  of  music, 
a  traveller,  and  was  once  in  the  British  army.  One 
of  Losee's  best  pictures  is  "The  Old  Homestead" 
immortalized  by  the  late  Denman  Thompson. 

Edward  Connelly,  who  played  the  rascal  Rasputin 

in   "The   Fall  of  the   Romanoffs" — a  remarkable 

C  107  3 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

picture  with  Nance  O'Neil  as  the  Czarina  —  has  had 
a  change  of  heart,  for  now  we  have  him  in  an  ideal 
part  in  "Shore  Acres/*  the  play  of  long  runs,  written 
and  produced  by  the  late  James  Heme.  Mr. 
Connelly  was  in  the  original  company,  and  played 
Heme's  part  in  the  London  production  after  the 
death  of  Mr.  Heme  in  'oi.  Mrs.  Heme  presented 
the  play  to  Mr.  Connelly  as  her  husband's  logical 
successor.  In  the  picture  play  —  one  of  the  best  of 
its  kind  yet  produced  —  Mr.  Connelly  has  the  sup- 
port of  dainty  Alice  Lake,  who  scored  in  "Lom- 
bardy  Ltd."  with  the  effervescent  Bert  Lytell. 
Holmes  Herbert  is  another  strong  actor  first  seen  in 
the  screen  version  of  *'A  Man  Without  a  Country" 
and  more  recently  in  "His  House  in  Order,"  a  pic- 
ture way  ahead  of  the  speaking  version,  with  Elsie 
Ferguson  scoring  again. 

Joseph  J.  Dowling,  he  of  "The  Miracle  Man" 
fame,  is  still  doing  wonderful  work,  as  evidenced  in 
his  later  success,  "The  Kentucky  Colonel,"  a  good 
adaptation  of  Opie  Read's  book.  He  is  a  civil  war 
veteran,  but  not  so  venerable,  as  he  was  only  a 
drummer  boy  and  is  yet  a  fine  example  of  physical 
manhood,  tall,  erect  and  alert,  with  clear  cut  features 
and  a  strong  personality. 

Herbert  Standing  —  there's  an  actor  for  you,  to 

CioS^ 


HOPE   HAMPTON 


1 

i 


SCREEN     CHARACTERS 

say  nothing  of  his  big  contribution  to  the  list  of 
players!  His  six  sons  have  all  made  good,  especially 
Wyndham,  one  of  the  best  screen  leads,  as  evidenced 
in  "The  Bugle  Call"  a  distinctly  patriotic  picture 
in  which  he  shared  honors  with  young  Willie  Collier 
(called  ** Buster").  Then  we  cannot  forget  the 
big  play  of  a  season  or  two  ago,  **  Rose  of  the  World," 
with  Elsie  Ferguson.  Another  Standing  son  is 
Guy,  who  served  in  the  British  Navy  and  was  deco- 
rated by  King  George.  Then  "we  have  with  us" 
Percy,  Harold  and  Herbert,  Jr.  Two  have  gone  to 
their  reward,  Jack  and  Aubrey  who  gave  his  life 
for  the  cause  on  Flanders  Field  in  France.  Wynd- 
ham is  named  for  his  uncle.  Sir  Charles  Wyndham, 
and  is  a  nephew  of  that  other  veteran  actor  and 
screen  player,  William  Carleton.  Herbert  Standing 
is  a  handsome  man  of  much  dignity,  who  says  *'The 
photoplay  needs  the  actor  and  what  is  more  the 
actor  needs  the  screen."  He  came  to  it  with  a 
wealth  of  experience,  acting  with  Irving,  Hare, 
Wyndham  and  the  like. 


C  1093 


GRANDES  DAMES  AND  OTHERS 


THERE  are  many  in  middle  life  and  past  it, 
who  adorn  the  screen  and  essay  varied  roles, 
running  the  gamut  from  hag  to  Dowager, 
like  Edythe  Chapman,  wife  of  that  excellent  player, 
James  Neill.  She  oftentimes  sacrifices  her  good 
looks  to  suit  the  character  as  in  "Everywoman" 
in  which  she  showed  her  versatihty  to  advan- 
tage. Kate  Lester,  the  stately  one,  adorns  drawing 
room  scenes  and  is  ever  a  picture  of  dignity.  Her 
mother  in  "Little  Women"  endeared  her  to  all. 
Eleanor  Hancock  is  a  beauty  whom  it  is  a  treat  to 
see,  with  her  whitened  hair,  fine  figure  and  taste  in 
dress.  Eugenie  Besserer,  who  played  the  mother 
in  "The  Crisis,"  one  of  the  best  pictures  screened,  is 
another,  good  to  look  at.  Helen  Dunbar  and  Adele 
Harrington  should  be  mentioned,  as  they  never 
fail  in  the  least  to  satisfy,  especially  when  playing 
the  society  leader.  Miss  Farrington  was  on  the 
speaking  stage  20  years  and  sang  in  light  opera  at 
Clio] 


ANITA    STEWART 


GRANDES  DAMES  AND  OTHERS 

one  time.  Edith  Wynne  Matthison,  the  eminent 
Enghsh  actress,  still  in  her  prime,  did  a  good  bit  of 
work  in  "The  Governor's  Lady,"  so  well  presented 
on  the  stage  by  Emma  Dunn.  Constance  Collier 
has  not  been  seen  for  a  long  while,  but  we  can  re- 
call with  pleasure  her  ** Tongues  of  Men"  supported 
by  Forrest  Stanley.  Other  stage-stars  to  shine  are 
Charlotte  Walker,  Julia  Arthur,  Ivy  Troutman,  Hen- 
rietta Crosman,  Katherine  Grey,  May  Irwin  and  May 
Robson  of  the  comedienne  type,  Mary  Alden  who 
played  the  housekeeper  in  "The  Birth  of  a  Nation," 
Rita  Jolivet,  Ann  Murdoch,  Billie  Burke,  Laura  Hope 
Crews,  Maude  Fealy,  Gail  Kane,  Lillian  Kemble, 
Florence  Short,  who  played  Nancy  Hanks  in  "The 
Son  of  Democracy,"  as  fine  a  picture  for  the  young  to 
see  as  has  ever  been  screened.  In  "The  Idol  Dancer" 
she  has  a  vastly  different  role,  but  it  shows  versatility. 
Opera  stars  have  made  the  venture  though  not 
always  successful  in  facing  the  merciless  camera. 
Geraldine  Farrar  has  been  the  most  conspicuous, 
because  of  her  rare  dramatic  ability  which  will 
stand  her  in  good  stead  should  her  voice  fail  in  the 
future.  Her  best  picture  thus  far  is  "  Flame  of  the 
Desert."  Mary  Garden  was  a  picture,  but  did 
not  have  the  vivacity  called  for  to  be  satisfactory. 
**The  only"  Caruso  appeared  in  at  least  one  good 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

picture,  "My  Cousin,"  which  had  the  added  at- 
traction of  introducing  a  scene  from  "Paghacci" 
actually  done  in  the  Metropohtan  Opera  House. 
Carohna  White  supported  him  and  did  well.  Frieda 
Hempel  signed  up  to  appear  but  to  date  I  have 
not  seen  the  picture.  Singers  are  not  alone  in  being 
unsuccessful  on  the  screen,  for  many  have  tried  it 
—  one  or  two  noted  beauties  for  instance.  Among 
the  young  players  to  achieve  unbounded  success 
are  Violet  Heming,  the  star  in  "Everywoman"; 
Wanda  Hawley;  Doris  Kenyon;  Constance  Binney, 
whose  "Erstwhile  Susan"  scored  heavily;  Mary 
Miles  Minter  who  made  a  hit  in  "The  Littlest 
Rebel"  with  the  Farnum  brothers,  and  has  many 
screen  plays  to  her  credit  —  all  good  and  wholesome. 
Bessie  Love  will  be  enjoyed  in  "Old  Curiosity 
Shop"  years  hence,  as  all  the  Dickens  dramatiza- 
tions will.  Miss  Love  bears  a  startling  resemblance 
to  Mary  Pickford  in  feature  and  little  mannerisms, 
and  I  predict  a  big  future  for  her.  Miriam  Cooper, 
first  seen  in  "The  Birth  of  a  Nation"  and  the  past 
season  in  "Evangeline,"  a  well  directed  play,  some 
scenes  done  in  the  Acadian  Valley  in  Nova  Scotia, 
is  deserving  of  a  place  here. 

There  are  a  number  of  Orientals  on  the  screen, 
headed     by     that     Japanese     artist-actor     Sessue 


ELSIE   JANIS 


MADGE    KENNEDY 


*:^-^- 


ELAINE    HAMMERSTEIN 


MABEL   NORM  AND 


GRANDES  DAMES   AND   OTHERS 

Hayakawa,  and  his  charming  wife  Tsura  Aoki, 
who  has  been  commissioned  by  a  president  of  a 
syndicate  of  32  theatres  in  Japan  and  Korea  to 
modernize  and  adapt  for  the  Nipponese  stage  the 
plays  of  great  British  and  American  writers.  Her 
modernization  of  Shakespeare  is  the  first  to  be  done 
in  Japanese.  Mr.  Hayawaka  made  his  first  great 
success  in  *'The  Cheat'*  done  with  Fannie  Ward 
and  said  to  be  one  of  the  best  pictures  ever  shown. 
It  was  dramatized  for  the  stage  from  the  screen,  and 
proved  a  dismal  failure  as  the  Oriental  atmosphere 
was  not  reproduced  and  it  lacked  the  fine  hand  of 
the  Japanese  actor,  to  give  it  atmosphere.  The 
couple  came  from  Japan  several  years  ago,  are 
highly  educated,  and  supremely  happy  in  their  sunny 
Cahfornia  home.  Then  we  have  Charles  Fang, 
who  served  the  late  Admiral  Dewey  in  '98  as  cook 
on  the  Olympia.  In  many  pictures  of  recent  sea- 
sons, we  see  hundreds  of  Orientals  as  in  that  su- 
preme classic  "Broken  Blossoms"  a  page  from  the 
"Limehouse  Tales."  This  picture  created  a  furore  in 
London  and  will  continue  to  do  wherever  it  is  shown. 
Here  we  discovered  a  new  star  in  Richard  Barthelmess 
whom  we  had  seen  in  many  parts,  but  it  took  the 
hand  of  Griffith  to  develop  him  in  this,  also  in 
"The  Idol  Dancer,"  and  his  future  fame  is  assured. 


STAGE     ANDSCREEN 


THE  KIDDIES 


As  to  the  kiddies,  hats  off,  for  they  are  wonders! 
There  is  Ben  Alexander  in  "Hearts  of  the  World" 
and  many  other  pictures,  big-eyed  Bobby  Connelly, 
who  grew  up  in  the  Vitagraph  studios  over  in  Brook- 
lyn, New  York;  Frankie  Lee,  the  little  cripple  in 
"The  Miracle  Man"  —  ever  forget  him?;  the  ir- 
repressible Lee  sisters  who  seem  to  have  grown  out 
of  our  play  going  existence;  Marie  Osborne  "Little 
Mary  Sunshine"  always  accompanied  by  the  darkey 
chap  who  convulses  the  "fans";  Madge  Evans;  the 
Hastings  twins,  Barbara  and  Adele,  who  alternate 
in  "The  Copperhead";  Georgie  Stone;  Anita  Snell; 
Gordon  Griffith;  the  Blackton  children;  Lilhan 
Read,  used  in  "Civilization";  Ethelmary  Oakland; 
Francis  Carpenter;  Jean  Eraser;  the  Steuart  children; 
Zoe  Bech;  Wesley  Barry,  he  of  the  freckles  who 
shared  the  honors  with  Mary  Pickford  in  "Daddy- 
long-legs"  and  was  especially  funny  as  Boots  in 
"Male  and  Female";  Mary  McAllister  —  the  best 
of  the  girls;  Pat  Moore  —  he  of  the  big  eyes.  Watch 
these  players,  for  their  training  serves  them  well 
for  the  future,  as  grown  ups.  The  children  are 
idolized  in  the  studios  and,  fortunately  the  stupid 


MAJOR   ROBERT   WARWICK 

Singer,  Actor,  Soldier 


GRANDES  DAMES  AND  OTHERS 

laws  prevailing  in  Massachusetts  and  elsewhere 
cannot  touch  these  dear  tots  as  age  limit  does  not 
apply  to  the  screen.  Wesley  Barry  has  reached 
stardom  thanks  to  Marshall  Neilan  who  discovered 
his  talent  long  ago. 

MUSIC 

Perhaps  we  will  revise  our  opinion  of  what  con- 
stitutes popular  music  when  we  observe  30-cent 
picture  houses  advertising  their  programs  of  music 
to  accompany  this  or  that  picture.  Here  is  an 
evolution  from  the  older  days  when  such  an 
announcement  might  have  kept  all  but  the  high- 
brows away.  The  patrons  have  become  rather 
critical  of  late  so  that  all  the  best  picture  houses 
have  high  class  organists  to  meet  the  ever  increas- 
ing demand  for  suitable  accompaniments.  Boston 
has  one  in  Edith  Lang  —  her  very  name  suggesting 
the  musician.  She  has  issued  a  pretentious  and 
highly  valuable  book  called  "Musical  Accompani- 
ment of  Moving  Pictures"  and  it  is  full  of  material. 
We  used  to  have,  among  sundry  nuisances,  the 
rhythm  fiend  —  the  time  beater,  who  disturbed 
our  equanimity,  but  now  when  the  organist  becomes 
conscious  of  this,  the  tune  is  changed,  which  calls 
the  aforesaid  fiend  "to  time"  anyhow. 


VI 

COMEDIANS 

WHEN  is  a  comedy  not  a  comedy?  Well, 
when  the  house  goes  wild  over  horse- 
play and  slapstick,  and  the  organ  grinds 
out  circus  music,  one  wonders!  Charles  ChapHn 
and  Roscoe  Arbuckle  are  the  stars  that  twinkle 
along  these  lines,  and  they  have  a  big  following. 
Maybe  the  tired  business  man  needs  to  have  his 
risibihties  aroused  by  antics  —  the  man  who  would 
not  find  much  fun  in  the  quiet  humor,  and  genuine 
comedy  —  so  his  tastes  are  gratified,  and  it  is  all 
"within  the  law."  Happily  there  is  less  of  the 
former  pie-throwing,  nose  thumbing,  and  knock- 
overs  into  pools  of  water  than  of  yore.  Quite  the 
funniest  comedy  in  the  repertoire  of  Charles  Chaphn 
is  "Shoulder  Arms"  written  and  directed  by  himself. 
It  is  a  clever  satire  on  some  features  of  the  war,  is 
clean,  and,  as  the  more  proper  patrons  said,  "is  a 
scream."  The  Christie  comedies  are  wholesome, 
and  from  that  company  graduated  Betty  Compson, 


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COMEDIANS 

the  young  girl  in  "The  Miracle  Man."  Perhaps 
the  best  comedies  and  which  all  enjoy  are  those  put 
out  for  the  late  Sidney  Drew  and  his  clever  wife 
(formerly  Lucille  McVey).  Mrs.  Drew  is  giving  us 
still  more,  and  has  John  Cumberland  with  her. 
The  Drews'  best  picture  was  their  last  one  together 
''Squared.'*  Taylor  Holmes,  he  of  "His  Majesty 
Bunker  Bean"  fame,  excels  in  high  class  comedy 
and  now  has  an  estabhshed  place.  One  of  the 
funniest  pictures  along  that  line  last  season  was 
"A  Pair  of  Sixes"  with  the  only  Maude  Eburne, 
who  created  the  part  for  the  stage.  Fred  Stone,  a 
product  of  Colorado,  has  made  one  or  two  excur- 
sions into  filmdom,  displaying  his  acrobatic  skill 
and  agility.  For  a  combination  of  humor  and 
pathos  commend  me  to  Will  Rogers.  My  first 
sight  of  him  anywhere  was  in  "Nearly  Married" 
with  none  other  than  Peggy  Wood,  who  is  now  tour- 
ing in  "Buddies"  in  her  first  picture.  Though 
Bert  Lytell  lines  up  as  an  all  round  actor,  a  player 
of  many  parts,  perhaps  the  funniest  thing  he  gave 
us  last  season  was  "One-Thing-at-a-tIme-0'Day." 
Another  picture  to  stand  out,  and  good  for  a  repeat 
anywhere,  is  "Lombardy  Ltd."  Charles  Ray,  one 
of  the  most  finished  of  all  the  young  leads  can  play 
any  part,  but  rarely  does  he  fail  to  inject  pathos 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

with  his  humor.  He  shines  in  small  town  pictures, 
and  clean  farce.  He  is  a  *'fmd"  of  another  prince 
of  directors  —  Thomas  I  nee,  who  gave  us  the 
spectacle  "Civilization.*'  Douglas  MacLean  is  con- 
sidered the  cleverest  of  them  all,  in  his  subtle  work, 
as  shown  in  "Twenty-Three  and  One-Half  Hours' 
Leave."  He  and  his  little  leading  lady,  Doris  May, 
are  called  the  "Heavenly  Twins"  of  the  screen. 
Then  we  have  Walter  Hiers  (who  looks  like  Dickens* 
fat  boy)  and  droll  Johnny  Hines,  all  good  with 
never  a  trace  of  vulgarity. 


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VII 

GREAT  PICTURE  PLAYS 

IT  would  take  chapters  to  tell  of  the  great  pictures 
seen  the  past  ten  or  more  years,  and  their  in- 
dividual merits,  or  of  the  men  "behind  the 
throne"  —  the  directors  like  Cecil  de  Mille,  George 
Loane  Tucker,  the  Ince  Brothers,  Charles  Miller, 
Maurice  Tourneur,  WiUiam  Nigh,  young  Neilan, 
Maxwell  Karger,  Albert  Cappelani,  Emile  Chautard, 
Hobart  Henley,  Hugo  Ballin,  Herbert  Brenon  and 
others,  all  of  whom  are  entitled  to  our  praise.  These, 
and  more  to  come,  are  making  the  pictures  better 
day  by  day. 

Some  of  the  big  pictures  of  the  past  season  were 
"The  Miracle  Man,"  "Broken  Blossoms,"  "Jekyll 
and  Hyde,"  "Male  and  Female"  —  big  in  directing, 
photography  and  individual  work.  The  first  named 
is  the  most  appealing  dramatic  production  I  have 
yet  seen,  taken  as  a  whole,  with  its  highly  satis- 
factory ending.  Little  departure  was  made  from 
the  stage  version,  seen  at  George  Cohan's  theatre 

Cup] 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

when  first  put  on.  Here's  a  play  to  show  fifty 
years  hence,  because  of  its  lessons,  minus  preach- 
ment. It  discloses  the  dregs  and  wine  of  the  world, 
how  crooked  lives  are  made  straight,  sordid  ones 
made  bright,  and  all  through  the  spirituality  of  a 
sightless  old  man  —  a  glorified  patriarch.  More 
experiences,  good  and  bad,  are  crowded  into  this 
picture  than  people  know  in  a  hfetime.  Joseph  J. 
Dowhng,  the  grand  old  man,  little  realizes  how  his 
influence  goes  forth  to  those  in  front.  In  the 
picture  we  have  one  of  the  old  ladies  of  the  screen  — 
Ruby  Lafayette,  nearing  four  score  —  the  one  who 
played  in  "Mother  of  Mine"  pictured  from  the 
poem.  She  entered  the  films  at  73,  having  played 
on  the  stage  with  Booth  and  others  like  him. 
"Broken  Blossoms"  is  a  screen  classic,  a  simple 
story  told  in  pictures,  and  it  took  a  firm  hold  here  and 
in  London,  especially  where  "Chinks"  prevail.  It 
was  Griffith's  third  big  picture,  but  in  no  sense  a 
spectacle,  like  the  first  two.  Another  fine  picture 
was  "The  Copperhead"  with  Lionel  Barrymore, 
made  from  the  play,  which  scored  a  long  run  in  New 
York  City  with  the  same  star.  If  there  is  anyone 
who  cannot  thrill  to  its  superb  tug  of  emotion, 
who  cannot  leave  its  viewing  a  better  man  or  woman, 
boy    or    girl,   all  we    can   say   is,   that   he  has  no 

I  120] 


ROSE    TAPLEY 


WILLIAM    S.   HART 


GREAT     PICTURE     PLAYS 

mind,  heart,  or  soul,  and  never  will  have.  Milhons 
have  viewed  this  picture  with  dimmed  eyes  and 
none  can  escape  its  strange  spell.  It  has  historic 
features,  introducing  the  great  emancipator,  and  it 
lends  distinction  to  any  theatre  showing  it.  Lionel's 
brother  John  has  scored  heavily  in  "Jekyll  and 
Hyde"  a  motion  picture  masterpiece  and  one  of 
the  surprises  of  the  year.  The  picture  is  gruesome 
—  so  was  the  play,  with  Mansfield,  but  above  all  is 
the  art  of  the  actor  transcendant  in  a  high  degree. 
It  has  been  truly  a  Barrymore  year  all  round  on 
both  stage  and  screen. 

Among  lighter  plays  to  recall  with  pleasure  was 
"The  Star  Spangled  Banner,"  dedicated  to  the 
U.  S.  Marines,  In  which  a  young  English  prig  of  a 
lad  figures  and  finds  his  very  soul  just  through 
the  loyalty  of  the  "soldiers  of  the  sea"  to  their 
commanding  officer,  the  chap's  stepfather  —  a  fine 
picture  for  the  young,  with  a  big  moral.  "PoIIy- 
anna"  lines  up  as  one  that  will  never  grow  old  and 
one  of  the  best  Mary  Pickford  has  given  with  the 
possible  exception  of  "Stella  Maris." 


ni20 


VIII 


WHY  CENSORSHIP? 


TO  censor  or  not  to  censor,  is  a  much  mooted 
question  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  motion 
pictures  are  improving  rapidly  day  by  day 
—  why?  Because  producers  are  awake  to  the  fact 
that  pubKc  taste  is  being  elevated,  theatre  patrons 
of  the  educated  classes  are  turning  their  attention 
to  the  silent  drama,  and  filling  the  theatres  which 
give  them  the  best  the  market  affords.  The  pulse 
is  felt  and  so  we  have  better  pictures. 

Still  the  censorship  bugbear  confronts  us,  and  must 
be  met  with  vigor.  President  Wilson  in  191 6  said 
"Censorship  is  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  Ameri- 
can institutions."  There  are,  however,  two  kinds, 
the  legal  which  is  obnoxious,  and  the  co-operative. 
Besides  being  distinctly  un-American  it  is  un- 
democratic and  entirely  unnecessary.  State  laws, 
especially  in  Massachusetts,  are  quite  strict,  and 
provide  for  the  suppression  of  dehberately  vicious 
and  obscene  presentations  on  stage  and  screen,  so 

C  122] 


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WHY     CENSORSHIP? 

why  the  self-appointed  censors?  In  the  National 
Board  of  Review  we  have  a  body  of  intelligent, 
broad  minded  men,  who  give  freely  of  their  time,  so 
that  commercialism  cannot  be  charged  against  them. 
They  endeavor  to  represent  a  point  of  view  of  the 
public  as  well  as  their  own,  and  act  accordingly 
on  conviction.  It  is  clearly  apparent,  therefore, 
that  this  group  of  men  are  performing  a  public 
service  not  to  be  under-valued,  and  for  the  millions 
who  frequent  daily  the  picture  theatres  the  country 
over. 

Producers  have  gladly  submitted  themselves  to 
these  men,  and  they  well  know  they  cannot  "put 
over"  a  picture  which  is  unclean  or  suggestive. 
The  trade  mark  of  the  National  Board  of  Review 
is  or  should  be  a  guarantee  of  excellence.  They 
review  95  per  cent  of  all  pictures  being  put  forth  and 
it  is  a  significant  fact  that  only  a  few  were  condemned 
in  191 9.  This  proves  that  the  output  is  clean  on 
the  whole,  and  what  the  adult  masses  pay  to  see. 

It  is  only  a  dull  narrow  mind  that  seeks  to  impose 
its  personal  tastes  by  force  of  law  upon  its  neighbor. 
Such  people  set  up  a  howl  over  the  nude  in  art  and 
would  drape  the  Venus  de  Milo,  and  other  master- 
pieces, just  because  the  young  hopefuls  of  their 
families  might  be  tempted  to  imitate  and  go  about  in 

1:1233 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

the  "altogether."  There  is  quite  as  much  need  for 
estabhshing  censorship  of  the  spoken  play  —  the 
very  titles  of  which  are  sometimes  suggestive  and 
idiotic;  they  might  attack  the  press  for  unsavory 
divorce  details,  etc.,  the  opera,  books,  magazines, 
paintings,  sculpture,  even  conversation,  as  motion 
pictures,  which  are  advancing  so  rapidly  in  quality 
and  power,  as  to  make  all  this  unnecessary.  The 
pictures  long  since  left  the  stage  of  infancy  and  have 
attained  marvellous  proportions  the  world  over. 

Shakespeare  could  not  have  written  his  plays 
under  censorship,  and  some  authors  would  have 
been  damned  or  silenced.  How  about  the  play 
"Camille,'*  done  for  generations  and  by  the  most  emi- 
nent players  and  in  every  language?  This  play  is 
based  on  what?  Any  talk  of  censorship?  No 
great  art  can  be  produced  under  the  club  of  the 
police.  Shakespeare  did  not  write  his  plays  for  the 
masses,  certainly  not  for  children.  The  screen 
deals  entirely  with  the  masses  —  hence  its  popu- 
larity. 

To  show  the  fickleness  of  those  who  clamor  for 
highbrow  and  cleaner  pictures,  why  did  they  not 
support  "The  Blue  Bird"  with  its  wonderful  ac- 
companiment of  music,  "Prunella,"  a  classic  and 
beautifully    done     by    Marguerite    Clark,    "Stella 

C  1243 


WHY     CENSORSHIP? 

Maris,"  Mary  Pickford's  best  picture,  —  and  many 
others  we  might  mention.  These  pictures  proved 
commercial  failures,  and  yet  social  workers  and 
club  women  pick  flaws  in  "The  Miracle  Man,'* 
"Broken  Blossoms"  and  their  like,  faihng  to  grasp 
the  soul  of  these  wonderful  pictures.  One  stupid 
woman  in  Boston  criticized  "Little  Women,"  be- 
cause there  was  so  much  kissing. 

As  to  the  howl  about  children,  for  whom  thou- 
sands of  pictures  are  easily  available,  they  have  no 
more  place  in  a  theatre  showing  adult  films,  than 
they  have  at  any  speaking  play  "over  their  heads." 
This  is  a  matter  for  the  parents  to  control,  and  a 
good  community  spirit  is  best  —  that  which  co- 
operates with  the  local  manager  who  will  be  glad 
to  meet  any  situation  sanely  presented. 

Motion  pictures  are  put  out  for  adults  and  not  for 
the  immature  mind,  yet  we  can  list  hundreds  of 
pictures  which  are  understood  by  both  young  and 
old.  Pictures  showing  animals,  a  real  circus  and 
God's  country  here  and  there  interest  all.  Edison 
said  once,  "Give  me  a  fifteen  minute  picture  and  I 
can  teach  more  geography  than  the  printed  page 
can  give  in  a  month."  Presumably  he  referred  to 
the  average  travel  reel.  Childcn  in  many  pictures 
have  shown  clearly  the  Bible  text  "A  little  child 

C  125;] 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

shall  lead  them,"  but  what  do  our  children  know 
or  care  about  the  problem  plays  and  their  like? 
Not  one  in  a  thousand  can  grasp  the  meaning  of  a 
play,  even  with  a  strong  moral  purpose,  showing 
the  villain  in  all  his  wickedness  —  there,  to  give  the 
play  the  right  ending.  What  does  a  ten  year  old, 
know  about  the  regeneration  of  the  bad  man,  about 
love,  romance,  the  errors  of  life,  temptations  and 
all  of  it?  He  has  no  business  there,  and  is  usually 
a  nuisance  for  all  about  him  with  his  restlessness 
and  audible  remarks.  Why  should  we  adults  over 
1 6  see  only  pictures  suited  for  kids?  A  blow  at  the 
freedom  of  the  screen  is  a  forerunner  of  attempts 
by  well  meaning,  but  narrow,  malcontents  and 
professional  busybodies,  to  try  to  muzzle  the  press. 
It  can't  be  done,  however.  We  should  censure  such 
would-be  censors  and  continue  to  enjoy  liberty  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness  as  set  forth  in  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States. 


C1263 


IX 

WHY  THEY  GO 

HERE  are  some  of  the  reasons  given  why 
people  go  to  the  motion  picture  houses. 
The  cost  is  small,  and  the  entertainment 
informal;  we  can  just  drop  in  and  do  not  have  to 
bother  about  reserved  seats;  we  get  effects  in  the 
pictures  that  the  stage  can  never  produce;  we  can 
go  in  and  leave  at  will,  having  no  large  investment 
to  consider;  we  get  our  money's  worth  no  matter 
how  indifferent  the  picture  may  be.  During  the 
season  there  may  be  one  or  two  stage  successes  worth 
the  price,  but  in  a  picture  house  one  is  sure  to  get  at 
least  one  feature  worth  while;  in  small  towns,  the 
stage  shows  are  jokes,  so  what  chance  do  the  people 
have  to  see  anything  worth  while,  except  via  the 
screen,  for  cheap  plays  are  worse  than  bad  pictures 
and  we  lose  less  money  by  patronizing  the  film 
houses.  One  man  declared  that  he  went  regularly 
to  see  the  pictures  for  the  following  reasons  — 
**  because  they  give  me  science,  history,  drama,  and 


^ 


STAGE     AND      SCREEN 

comedy;  because  they  bring  me  dreams  and  facts 
while  I  am  alive,  and  alert,  as  1  sit  comfortably  in 
quiet  surroundings  in  a  seat  that  costs  little  more 
than  the  tariff  on  a  good  cigar."  Another  said  "I 
go  because  I  can  see  the  master  dramas  of  all  time, 
better  than  their  authors  dreamed;  I  can  see  the 
great  fictions  brought  to  life  and  enacted  rather  than 
told  and  can  experience  the  tremendous  and  ap- 
pealing griefs,  mourning  with  the  stricken  and  sor- 
rowing with  the  bereaved,  to  my  own  betterment." 


ni28  3 


p 


X 

WHERE  THE  CAMERA  GOES 

A  CAUSTIC  critic  once  said  in  print  that  the 
motion  pictures  were  no  good  and  the  camera 
does  not  get  anywhere.    Is  that  so?    Well, 
we  all  know  what  Burton  Holmes  has  done  for  us 
with  his  camera,  taking  us  to  countries  we  might 
never  see  otherwise  and  for  a  nominal  sum.     Let 
us  see  where  the  camera  has  already  gone. 
Under  the  sea. 
Into  the  crater  oj  Vesuvius. 
Far  inside  both  Arctic  and  Antarctic  circles. 
Three  thousand  Jeet  under  ground. 
On  the  glaciers  and  in  crevasses  oj  the  Alps. 
Out  under  the  bottom  of  the  seas  and  in  the  coal  mines. 
Under  the  Hudson  River  and  Niagara  Falls. 
To  the  headwaters  oJ  the  Amazon. 
Into  the  jungles  oj  the  Tropics. 
On  top  oj  the  Pyramids  of  Egypt. 
Into  the  trenches  oj  Europe  and  on  decks  oj  warships. 
Thousands  oJ  Jeet  in  the  air  in  aeroplanes. 

I  1293 


STAGE     AND     SCREEN 

Upon  the  pilots  oj  engines  in  swijt  action. 

Upon   the  Eiffel   Tower   and  into   sewers   and  bank 

vaults. 
Into  the  palaces  of  Kings  and  in  the  slums  everywhere. 
Into  the  catacombs  of  Rome. 
In  front  of  Alaska  glaciers  where  ice  blocks  bigger  than 

ten  story  buildings  were  falling  off. 
Other  places  too  numerous  to  mention. 


I  1303 


// 


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